


Wires

by hanjisungsslut



Series: Wires [1]
Category: Wires - Fandom
Genre: Dystopia, Dystopian society, F/F, Government Corruption, Heist, and named around a song by the neighborhood, based around monsta x music videos, be gay do crime, can i call it a heist?, criminal, imma call it a heist, set in futuristic times, they kill people sometimes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:48:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 34,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21903988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hanjisungsslut/pseuds/hanjisungsslut
Summary: In desperate times, our world fails to make sense. Rich people feed off the poor like savages, those who can afford to eat grab supplies off the shelves and leave those who can’t to fend for themselves. Our nations leaders fail to see the impending consequences that their greed will cause.That’s why G.A.M.E was created.Seven childhood friends will have to discover secrets buried beneath the lies they are told in a battle for their lives that will require more than just survival skills. And not everyone may make it back alive.
Relationships: Original Character(s)/Original Character(s)
Series: Wires [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1578694
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	Wires

**Author's Note:**

> I got an ao3 accounts so i’m uploading this because idk i felt like it. enjoy if this is your first time reading and yes this is a trilogy so Part 2: Renegade drops January 2nd!

**_The Beginning_ **

  
  


Poverty. Death. Greed. Power.

The blood of the innocent paints the streets of undeserving cities white. The fearful hide. The fearless walk. But whether you are one of the corrupt or one of flawless, you were all the same inside. All driven by the same thing, supply and demand of your own self worth. 

A change had to be made, to the people and to the laws by which they lived. That’s when it was decided. That’s when the games began.

  
  


+++

_ Before The Fall _

Assortments of pinks and blues blended together on asphalt, a powdered stick of chalk drawing lines in small blocks. The basketball goal creaked and cracked every time the ball went through the net, followed by the hollow sound of rubber bouncing on concrete.

The court was a small area with nothing much to do. There was an old basketball goal that looked like it hadn’t been used in years, a metal fence tearing at the bottom, and two wooden picnic tables, one of which had decaying wood on the right bench. The court was hidden behind two large buildings, and the tight alleyway in between was the only entrance and exit. It was a fixer-upper and the service was terrible, but the little hidden place became a hideout for seven outcasts.

There were three of them there already that day. Adriana Vasquez had gotten there first. After her afternoon routine, which consisted of buying a drink and a bag of chips at the gas station two blocks over, she had squeezed through the tight fit of the alley and settled down with her bag. She kept a few boxes of chalk and a deck of cards in the bag at all times for the sole purpose of entertaining the crowd she called “her children.” 

Sonia Iyer had arrived next, mumbling about how her mother had held her up. Sonia loved her mother, but she was overbearing and a bit of a helicopter parent. She plopped down next to Adriana and began wildly ranting about her day. Adriana listened with a smile. They stayed there for a few minutes, doodling shapes into the ground, before a third person showed up.

Nadine Williams waltzed in. Her black hair was pulled into a bun and the god-awful blue uniform her school required she wear was molded to her body. Nadine rubbed at her eyes and sat her bag down. “I need a stress-reliever.” She had stated before grabbing up the basketball they left at the court. Dark skin radiated in the sunlight as she passed it from hand to hand. 

“Amen.” Sonia replied, head thrown back toward the fence. Nadine studied Sonia carefully, eyes lit with an idea, and before Adriana could say a word, the basketball went flying into Sonia’s stomach. “Bitch.” Sonia groaned and clutched her stomach with one hand, reaching for the ball with other and throwing it back. _ Oh, here it goes.  _ Adriana thought to herself. 

The next ten minutes consisted of the younger two bickering back and forth, passing the basketball around effortlessly. Pulling the chalk from her bag, Adriana began keeping score to attempt minimizing the arguments. It didn’t work as well as she’d hoped, but something was better than nothing. 

The chatter stopped with the arrival of a fourth member. Michelle Tran, forever poised and beaming, strolled through the small gap in the alley and sat down at the picnic table. She removed a laptop from her bag and began to sort through an assortment of files. “So, I take it your days have gone well?” Michelle asked while digging. Both Nadine and Sonia nodded and returned the question.

“My day has gone fine, thank you.” Michelle turns to Adriana with a smirk. “Keeping score for the rascals? A rather difficult task, no?” 

Adriana chuckled lightly and shook her head. “Not as difficult as you think.” Michelle smiled and adjusted the maeve-colored jeans she was wearing that afternoon. As the two oldest, Adriana and Michelle got along most of the time. They wouldn’t call themselves the best of friends, but there was certainly a sense of closeness between them, a bond. 

Adriana began to say something else, maybe suggest that Michelle helped her with the scores, but she was interrupted by the sound of scuffling from the alley. 

Kani Wyatt rolled through the gap and landed right on her feet. The blue uniform, identical to Nadine’s, was much more tattered and torn than the formers. Kani’s neck tie was crooked like her smile, and her jacket hung halfway off her shoulder. “Well, that was close.” She mumbled to herself.

Each pair of eyes followed her as she glanced back down the alley, just in time for a police car to drive by, going a little faster than usual. The newcomer was met with unsurprised but curious expressions from her friends. An expected yet dreaded response came from Michelle. “What did you steal this time?” 

Kani smiled, her cat-like eyes glistened with both pride and mischief as she held up a golden bracelet lined with diamonds. A collective sigh rippled over the four girls. Kani tossed the bracelet into the air and caught it in the other hand. She palm-rolled it behind her back and it was seemingly gone. Adriana knew she had slipped it in her belt loop.

“Why the long faces?” Kani mock-pouted while she skipped over to the fence. Nadine sighed again and rolled her eyes. “That thing looks expensive, you’re not gonna get away everytime.” 

Kani didn’t seem phased in the slightest by her warning. A ghost of a smile played on her lips as she slipped the bracelet out of belt loop and into her right hand, slipping it through the slender lines of her fingers and into her palm. “I think I'll do just fine, Dee.”

Sonia scoffed. There was an unreadable expression on her face. It was no secret to anyone that there was tension between Kani and Sonia, perhaps for their history and current unlabeled situation (which Adriana wasn’t too pleased to hear about). Nonetheless, they didn’t interact much when it came to group settings anymore. Sonia must have been feeling generous today, because she spun the ball on her finger and said, “Want to go a round?”

“Nah,” Kani shook her head, “think I'll sit this one out.” Her response was clipped and a look no one present could identify danced in her eyes. Neither said another thing as they turned their backs on one another.

It was the only exchange they had in a few weeks that didn’t end in yelling. Kani hopped over to where Adriana rested with her back against the fence. Tossing her bag down, she flipped the golden bracelet out of her belt loop and rested next to the older. One swift move and the bracelet was on Adriana’s left wrist, a red candy in her palm.

The scorekeeper looked up just in time to catch the thief wink and stick out her tongue to present an oval-shaped, dark blue candy. Adriana chuckled and popped the red sweet into her mouth. She was overwhelmed with the taste of watermelon, though she couldn’t say it was unpleasant. Kani often did this sort of thing. Everytime they would see each other, Kani would have a different candy in her hand, one for each of them.

Adriana never asked if they were stolen or not, she figured she didn’t want to know anyway.

She knew most of the items Kani owned were stolen or pawned, including her school bag and the necklace she kept tucked under her blouse. Kani rarely offered an explanation to her petty thievery, it was something they all had to learn to get used to. 

She could steal something right out of the hand of a stranger on the street, but she never stole from them, and that was a sign of respect from her.

The chatter died down in the court and a comfortable silence was reached between the five of them. It only lasted a few minutes before the sound of a car engine sliced through it. The sound stopped abruptly and all five peered into the alley way as a familiar face stepped out of the beat-up trans am. 

Luca Lakotas’ boots smacked the pavement of the alley while she simultaneously squeezed through the archway. A bit of a dynamic duo, if there were two names the town knew indefinitely, it was Luca Lakotas and Kani Wyatt.

Elders called them defiant, authorities called them scum, kids their own age referred to them as street rats, but there was one title nobody could deny for the two; clever. Luca took a seat on the other side of Adriana, smelling faintly of lavender and bubblegum.

“How’s it going, Lu?” Adriana spoke after a beat of silence. Luca popped her gum loudly. “It’s going. Elan should be here in a few, got held up by her dad again.”

The entire court went quiet yet again. No one moved. No one spoke. Everyone knew about Elan’s father. She was a quiet girl, minded her business, did well in school and was nice to everybody. Nobody in town could figure out why she, or any of the others for that matter, ran around with such girls like Kani and Luca. 

Neither her father nor the rest of the town knew why Elan stuck to those girls like glue. It had began back during 9th grade, when the then naïve adolescent had been paired up with the black sheep of the classroom. 

Surprisingly, Luca had done her part of the project and there was hardly any conversation throughout the weeks they worked together, but when Elan noticed Luca’s deteriorating health and overly slim face, (how could she not, she stared at her everyday) she began leaving things in her locker. Snacks, notes, sometimes even random drawings she made in class.

At first, Luca threw most of them away and went on to class, but as time went on and she began to gain back some weight, Elan watched over the corner as she folded the notes and put them in her notebook, pinned the drawings to her locker with a smile and chewed on the snacks during their classes. It made Elan happy to see her doing better.

She did it everyday for months, never getting caught. She thought for sure Luca would have no idea she was the one doing it, and she kind of preferred it that way. Elan wasn’t sure what Luca would think if she knew her partner from a project months ago was practically stalking her. 

It was an afternoon in the library that things had taken a turn. Elan has skipped lunch, hoping to finish up a paper due the period after and was rather engrossed in her work that she almost didn’t notice the black-clad figure walking towards her. Luca sat down in the chair across from her, sliding the bag of chocolates Elan had left in her locker that morning across the table.

Elan’s heart was beating out of her chest as she locked eyes with the silent girl in front of her. “I noticed you skipped lunch,” Luca said casually, “you take care of me, figured I’d return the favor.” 

Luca didn’t say anything else, didn’t give Elan the chance to respond, she simply stood from her chair and walked away without a second glance. Elan’s face burned with embarrassment, but she didn’t dare try to explain herself. 

The next day she would leave an apology note in Luca’s locker only to be cornered yet again at lunch by the older. “I’m not mad.” she opened with that. “Surprised is all. It wasn’t exactly something I expected from someone I’ve only spoken to twice.” 

Elan didn’t know what to say, so she didn’t say anything. She gave a curt nod and a smile and gathered her things to leave. When she got back to class, a paper fell out of her notebook and onto the floor.

_ As a thanks, meet me at the theater on fifth street at 7.  _

  * _L.L._



Some would say the rest was history. But as every love story does, this one had its problems. Elan’s father was a traditional man. His eldest son had married a woman from a powerful family and it brought the family great success. The newfound money and sense of importance drove him to push his daughter harder than he had pushed his son, in hopes for more and more.

Elan was a top student, the only candidate for valedictorian, her rank in the school was unmatched and the amount of clubs she was in was insane. Still, it didn’t seem to be enough for her father and he could never place why he often heard neighbors speaking under their breaths about his daughter and some street trash running about after dark. 

Her father had suspected, though he had hoped and prayed otherwise, that there was reason for Elan’s behavior. It was the same behavior he had exhibited when he was young. Expect this instance, she was courting a  _ woman.  _ A  _ poor woman _ .

He hadn’t caught Elan yet, hadn’t even seen Luca’s face. It was a good thing too, who knows what he would do if he did. Elan found herself sneaking away most nights, arriving late to hangouts and lecturing Kani about what her father would do to her if she were to go to jail for being associated with the latter’s “sticky fingers.” 

Adriana could recall many nights where Luca had called her, many nights when the two would have to sneak in through Adriana’s bedroom window on the first floor and spend the night in the guest room. She knew her parents wouldn’t approve of guests at such an hour, but she felt a need to shelter them, even for just a little while.

When Adriana wasn’t able to open her home to the two girls on those long nights she spent in the hospital by her father’s bedside, they slept in Luca’s car until the sun came up, both knowing neither home was friendly to them.

Sometime between Adriana taking care of the girls and where they sat around the court presently, the other four had pieced the situation together little by little. They never spoke about it, with the nights of Luca and Elan sleeping in a car when Adriana wasn’t home were long over. 

The six of them waited in anticipation for their seventh member. Nadine and Sonia continued at each other’s throats for a little while, before exhausting themselves and joining the others in a game of blackjack. 

It was around 7 PM—nearly three hours after the others had arrived—when Elan’s slim figure jostled through the opening. Her black hair was a mess and if one looked closely (as Luca did), it was easy to spot the dark circles underneath her eyes. She gave a small smile and lowered herself on the bench beside Luca, who immediately and almost unconsciously pressed the younger to her side.

She didn’t try to explain her lateness, no one asked her to explain either. The conversation picked up from there, a bit more light than it had previously been.

“He’s just on my nerves, I don’t know how else to explain it to him.” Nadine was grumbling as she placed an Ace next to her seven-of-hearts. Another play. It was a five. She busted.

Michelle hummed in response, contemplating her own cards. “Want me to go deal with him?” She offered while playing through her hand. Nadine laughed. “Yeah, I would love to see you try to get through the police officers they keep on campus.”

From across the circle, Kani grunted. “They have the fuckin’ feds on patrol at all hours, I’m pretty sure. Y’all wouldn’t believe how many times a day I get stopped and searched.”

Michelle shook her head, a hint of a smile playing on her lips. “I believe it. You’re a well-known thief, Kan. What else are they supposed to do?”

Kani tossed one of their set-aside joker cards at the older and stuck out her tongue like a child. “I’m not a thief!” she insisted, “I am simply a borrower of things.”

“Things that aren’t yours.” That came from Luca.

“Things you didn’t ask to borrow.” That was Elan.

“Things you have no intention of returning.” Finally, Sonia.

Kani flopped over on her back just as Michelle finished laying her cards. She held at 19. “I only take things from people who don’t appreciate them.” The brunette continued her point. It was Luca’s turn. 

“You go to a private academy that costs your parents thousands of dollars every year. Would you say you’re appreciative of that?” Michelle countered as she watched Luca bust with 24. 

“They don’t pay anymore, I got my scholarship back.” Kani mumbled, uncharacteristically quiet. “Since when is it Bully-Kani-Day anyway?” She flipped back onto her stomach. 

“It’s always Bully-Kani-Day.” Nadine chuckles and dodged another joker card that grazed her ear. “Watch it, Wyatt.” The seven of them giggled and returned to their game. 

Michelle ended up winning, Nadine and Luca proclaiming it to be “sheer, dumb luck.” Night had fallen by now, the stars hung heavy in the sky and illuminated their court in a pale gleam. Nadine pushed through the gap first, Luca and Elan not far behind and the others followed. The small alley was sandwiched in between two large buildings, hardly noticeable with all the activity around it, yet the small court had become home to the seven of them.

“I’m gonna kick your ass next time, Chelley.” Kani griped. Michelle let out a pleasant laugh, amusement dripping from her voice. “You can try.”

Kani swings her bag at Michelle’s ankles, each of them laughing as the oldest skips happily over. The laughter fades a little and Kani stops swinging for a moment to see the frown etched into Luca’s face, and the look of terror evident in Elan’s as both look straight past her.

She doesn’t have time to even turn around, before a hand reaches over her and grabs Elan’s arm harshly. “I knew it. I knew you were lying to me.” A man's voice sent shivers down their spines. None of them had to guess who he was. 

Elan stumbles at the force in which she was pulled, almost falling flat on the ground. The look on her face horrifies the remaining six. She’s terrified. Her father doesn’t seem to care, he continues pulling her along even as she stumbles into a parking meter. In that moment, something in Luca snaps.

“Hey!” she yells out, “You can’t drag her around like that.” Her voice holds a tone that nobody has heard before. Elan’s eyes are pleading, begging for Luca to leave it alone, but the grasp her father has on her wrist makes her face contort in pain, and Luca’s blood boils.

Elan’s father spins around, his eyes traveling over Luca’s body. Each girl searches for some sort of emotion in his eyes. There is none. “I don’t need assistance,” he spits out, “certainly not from the scum of the earth, certainly not from you.” He reaches out and shoves Luca back, her body colliding with Kani and Adriana’s. 

Her eyes never leave Elan’s father as she steadies herself and Kani feels her leap just in time. Luca jolts forward, muscles tense and limbs thrashing wildly. Kani has a firm grip on her left bicep, Adriana on the right. She struggles against their holds, green eyes flickering to Kani in anger. Kani matches her gaze.

There’s an internal battle between both of them, a fight for dominance. Adriana’s expression grows worried when the stare continues for more than four seconds. Kani sharply shakes her head, seeming to communicate all she was saying with her eyes in that one movement. Luca caved and relaxed in their grasps.

Still, Elan’s father didn’t stop. “Might want to keep your dog on a leash.” He scoffed at Kani, eyeing the blue necktie. “Someone of your kind doesn’t need to mix with someone as rabid.”

“Hey, fuck you.” Nadine cuts in. For a moment, Kani is worried she might leap at him too, but Nadine stays rooted to her spot. “Have you always been such a pathetic little bitch?” It’s this question that starts it all. 

Elan’s father releases his daughter and his fist sores through the air right at Nadine. Everyone is frozen, no one has time to react, no one except Michelle. 

She catches his fist in the air, just inches from Nadine’s face. Before another word can be spoken, the man pushes his right forearm into Michelle’s stomach, sending her flying backwards into the side of the building. Her back hits with a loud  _ thud  _ and she crumples to the ground. Sonia and Nadine both rush to her side.

From behind them, Elan sobs and pleads, tugging at his arm with all her might. He ignores her and brushes her hand off without so much as a glance. His eyes land directly at Luca. “You all are a poison to our society.” He grabs Elan by the shoulder and hauls off. 

The six girls stand in complete, stunned silence. A beat passes. Two. All that can be heard is a shaky exhale from Michelle. Her lip is bleeding from hitting the ground, blood gathering at the corners of her mouth. Her arms are slung over Nadine and Sonia’s shoulders, the two share a look before nodding.

“Michelle is staying with me tonight.” Nadine says. Whether from impact, or from not wanting to argue, Michelle agrees. It goes without saying that Sonia would stay with them too. 

A sniffle breaks through the silence. They all turn to see Luca, still bound in Adriana and Kani’s arms, with tears streaming down her cheeks. She sinks to the ground on her knees, weeping into her hands. 

Kani and Adriana drop next to her, and she reluctantly folds into their embrace. A few moments pass, the night filled with the sobs of the girl currently collapsing in the street, before the others join them on the ground, and wrap their arms around Luca as well.

It takes several minutes for Luca’s tears to dry, for her sobs to wither into small quivers. Kani strokes her hair timidly, tears brimming in her own eyes. She hates seeing Luca like this. Sonia offers to take Luca to the gas station across the street to get her washed up, and Luca prys herself off the ground to follow. 

Once they’re out of earshot, Kani turns to Adriana. “We can’t leave her alone tonight.” Her voice is barely above a whisper. Adriana nods, eyes following Luca’s retreating figure. 

“I’m not going to be at home tonight. I have to go see Papa.” The corner of Adriana’s mouth dip as she says it, either from guilt or being reminded of her father. “How’s he doing?” Kani crawls over next to her best friend.

Adriana laughs. It’s dry. “Not well. The doctors say he has a chance to beat it but…” her voice breaks and tears inaudibly fall from her chocolate eyes. “It seems he’s just getting worse everyday. Mama tries to stay positive, but I just can’t make myself believe her when she says it’ll be alright.”

She feels a pair of arms wrap around her shoulders and she instantly feels safer in her friends embrace. A shaky exhale escapes Adriana’s lips and she curls into her friends chest. “The bills are getting outrageous.” Her voice is hardly above a whisper now, “I don’t know how we’re going to survive much longer.”

Sonia and Luca return from the bathrooms, Luca’s eyes are bloodshot and her face is streaked with lines from her tears. She wraps her arms around herself as soon as they approach the others. Sonia’s eyes go straight to Kani and Adriana. She clenches her jaw and looks away.

All six rise to their feet, bags slung over their shoulders and solemn faces still recovering from the initial shock. “I’m going to take these two home.” Sonia announces. She doesn’t wait for a response, just pivots on her heel and marches down the street. Nadine gives them each a meaningful look and carries Michelle down the sidewalk in Sonia’s path.

Kani leans over and hugs Adriana one more time. “Be careful.” She whispers against her ear and pulls away slowly. There’s something in the way Adriana stares back at her, but she dismisses it as the events of the night having messed with her. Kani tugs at Luca’s jacket wordlessly and the two set in the opposite direction to where Luca’s car is parked. 

Adriana stands alone in the cold night. Her jeans were starting to feel thinner than before and the soft blue sweater no longer shielding her. She feels exposed. A shiver runs down her spine and she gives one last glance down the alley, before turning and walking across the street to where she would walk to the hospital in the freezing night.

+++

_ Free Falling _

The crescent moon bathed the streets in what was now a familiar sight to the delinquent the town knew as Kani. It was barely dawn, the sky a dull blue as it waited for the sun to come up over the horizon. Highways were backed up to the entrances by the hundreds of people trying to get to work. It was a busy morning, as was every other morning. 

The thief stopped in front of a two story house, wider than it was tall and under clean Hispanic influence. Kani jumped the back fence without a second thought and crawled beauty windows until she reached the one most recognizable.  _ Knock. Knock. Knock.  _ She waited.

A sleepy Adriana pulled back the yellow curtains and lifted the window. Her face showed surprise at seeing Kani waiting. The younger of the two climbed in, using the window as a spotter. “Hey, mind if I stay here for a few hours?” She whispered against the night.

Adriana rubbed her tired hazel eyes and nodded. “Parents fighting again?” Her voice was oddly deep from sleep. Kani smiled at her friend’s uncharacteristically wild hairstyle and long t-shirt. For a moment, she seemed to forget there was a question.

“Uh, yeah. When aren’t they fighting?” She replied with a hand rubbing the back of her neck. Back when they were only a little bit younger, Kani would always find herself at Adriana’s whenever her parents fought, always finding comfort in the small bedroom that seemed to be a home to so many others as well as herself now. 

Adriana’s eyes were sad when they looked at her and Kani felt the sense of unspoken pity. She didn’t like pity. Without another thought, she threw off her jacket shoes and climbed into the bed that lies in the middle of the room. 

The older sighed and joined her, both facing each other in the pale bask of stars and moonlight. “You’ll always have a home here.” Adriana’s voice was barely above a whisper. They met eyes as a small smile spread across Kani’s face. “I know.”

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” 

The smile on Kani’s face widened and her eyes danced, shielding a hidden emotion and a wave of uncertainty. 

“Do you trust me?”

>>><<<

November 18th. 

It all changed November 18th. 

The day started off like any other, with the girls meeting at their spot after school, bags of snacks and schoolwork slung over their shoulders. Adriana had arrived around the same time as Nadine and Kani, the latter two squeezing through the gap of the alley while bickering wildly. 

Kani had smiled widely when she saw Adriana, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her into the alley. It was a tight fit, hardly enough room for the two of them, but they made it work. Kani dropped a lemon candy in Adriana’s hand with a grin, before she slung a black backpack between them.

“I wanted to talk to you about something.” She said, expression serious. Adriana’s raised eyebrow was a sign for her to continue.

“Listen, it hasn’t exactly been easy for either of us recently. Your dad isn’t doing well and I can tell by the way you look so distant that the money isn’t going as far as it needs to. My parents are always fighting because of money problems and they can never come to a conclusion.” Kani rambled. All Adriana could do is nod.

“I think I found a solution to our troubles.” The words fell out of her mouth in a rush. Adriana almost didn’t catch them. “What? How?” 

The bag between them was opened to reveal two silver objects. Adriana stared at them carefully, the foreign items slowly taking shape in front of her eyes. Pistols. Loaded pistols. Kani must have seen the look of her face, because she quickly added, “Don’t worry, they’re blanks.”

“What are you doing with those?” Adriana purposefully made her voice hushed as she closed the bag tightly. There was something in Kani’s face, something determined, almost terrifying.

“The bank down the street. The one on 6th? The one that is so small it only ever has one worker and hardly any security? Listen, I know it’s crazy but what if…” She trailed off and took a deep breath, “What if we took the money?”

Adriana almost laughed. Almost. Her hands gripped the material of the bag, searching for any sign of joking in the others face. There was none. “You’re serious?” Adriana whispered back, and Kani nodded. “You’re talking about robbing a bank. A local bank who knows who we are and what we look like.” 

Kani was a risk-taker, a daredevil, everyone in town knew that and Adriana knew it best, but this was way beyond anything either of them had ever done. The latter was praying to see that stupid grin stretch across the others face and a giggled “gotcha” to fall from her lips. No such thing happened. 

Instead, Kani shook her head, pulling out two white ski masks from her jacket pocket. “Neither of us have any tattoos or marks that would give us away. It would be a simple in-and-out job. Come on, we need this, we need it to save our families. This wasn’t my first idea either but nothing else seems to be working.”

Adriana shook her head in disbelief. Was she actually considering this an option? “Dude, if you get caught, you could go to prison for years. Armed robbery is like twenty years.”

“That’s exactly why we won’t get caught. I have this all thought through. Adriana, this is our only option, we don’t have time to find another one or I would have.”

Adriana glances down at the bag, sucking her bottom lip in between her teeth. Deep down, a part of her knew Kani wouldn’t let this go. “How would we even get away? It’s not like we could go running down the streets with bags of money.” 

“Luca could help us.” Kani replied easily, not even worrying about Luca’s stance on the whole thing. Then again, Luca would probably be all for it. Curse her adrenaline junkie tendencies.

Adriana couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It was true, her father  _ did  _ need the money for more treatments and the hospital wasn’t exactly being kind to their bank account. But this was insane, right? Robbing a bank? That wasn’t something you could just do. It wasn’t something a 17-year-old could just get away with. 

But then again, Kani was a thief, and Kani had Luca in her corner. If there was anyone who knew anything about getting away with stealing, it was those two. She seemed to have it all planned out, like she had been thinking about it for a long time. Could they actually do this? Could it actually work?

“You’re serious?” Adriana asked once again.

Kani nodded. 

“Do you have a plan?” She asked another question. Kani didn’t seem annoyed, only amused as she answered. “I have Plan A, Plan B and Plan C. I have been thinking of hitting the bank for a while, I know everything there is to know about getting in and out.”

She was dead serious. Adriana gnawed at her lip, nails digging into her palms as she contemplated her options. Kani made it sound easy. Could it be easy? The town’s well-known criminal delinquents had gotten away with so much before. Had they ever done something this big? Were they even sure they could pull it off? Could  _ she _ pull it off?

Adriana found herself vocalizing only one of her million questions. “When?” 

Kani smirked, satisfied. “Tonight.”

>>><<<

On the other side of town, just as the sun settled in the sky and beamed down on the streets of the neighborhood, black combat boots attached to the legs of Luca Lakotas thudded against the pavement.

She had waited for almost three days in total, knowing it wouldn’t be safe to see her before now. Her father would no doubt be watching like a hawk for the next few days, but today was a work day, and it was her only chance. The tree outside her window had gotten easier to climb every time she did, now barely even losing grip as she scaled the side.

Luca didn’t think twice before swinging from the top branch to the window seal. Elan always kept it unlocked for her.

The room was uncharacteristically dark and cold, the usual bright pinks and greens decorating it now muted and fading. Usually kept in organized sections, the entire place was trashed from corner to corner. Pencils littered the floor, papers torn and thrown about, clothing and blankets all heaped up in giant piles.

By the window, a mirror that once hung on the wall was shattered. Luca stepped over the shards cautiously, careful not to make any sudden noises. A sob cut through the silence from the other side of the bed, and Luca found herself stepping over the mess with no concern for what was buried in it.

Elan was curled up into a ball by the bed post, her face hidden in her knees and rocking back and forth. Her knuckles turned white around the arms of her black hoodie. She was crying frantically. 

“Ellie,” Luca spoke softly, “Ellie, it’s me, it’s Luca.” The rocking ceased. Up close, it was obvious Elan was shaking violently. “Can I touch you?” Luca spoke again. 

There was a nod from the other and the latter moved forward to wrap her arms around Elan’s shoulders. The younger girl broke down and wailed, gripping her girlfriend’s arms hard enough to leave marks. Luca just waited, silently running her hands through the short black waves.

“It’ll never stop. He’ll never stop.” Whimpered Elan, “There’s nothing we can do.” 

Luca shifted, bringing her palms to Elan’s face, the girl hissed in pain and Luca stopped all movements. “Elan,” Luca began slowly, “look at me.”

The younger shook her head, hiding her face in the sleeves of her hoodie. Luca tenderly reaches out and brushed a piece of hair from her face. “Let me see.” She whispered.

The sleeves fell and Luca involuntarily gasped. The left side of Elan’s face was bruised completely, there was a scratch running the length of her nose down her right cheek. The corner of her lip was swollen and dried blood collected around it. Her left eye was a mix of purples and yellows, a thick and heavy bruise spreading across her eyelid.

“It’s nothing.” Elan murmured against her hands. Luca was filled with a range of emotions. Anger, shock, sympathy. She wasn’t sure what emotion was winning currently.

Her cheeks were wet, though she didn’t remember the tears falling, her face burned and her palms ached, but she didn’t remember squeezing them. She reached forward and cradled the younger girl to her chest, careful not to touch the wounds. 

“I’ll kill him.” She whispered to no one in particular, long after Elan had collapsed from exhaustion in her arms. “I’ll kill him and I’ll make him feel every single bit of it.”

>>><<<

As the sun began to set over the hills, and the air turned crisp and cool, a storm was brewing beyond the fenced-in walls of the court. Adriana, Kani and Luca sat in a circle in the center of the asphalt, quiet chatter drowned out by the loud and boisterous shouts of Michelle, Sonia and Nadine. 

Elan hadn’t come, claimed she didn’t have the energy to, but insisted Luca go for a little while. After a couple minutes of disagreement, Luca agreed, not wanting to put more stress on Elan. She would be there when she got back, probably still curled into a ball in her bed just like Luca had left her.

It didn’t stop her from worrying. There had been a far-away look in Elan’s eyes recently, a disconnected expression and it worried Luca often. Try as she might, she just couldn’t figure out what was going on with the younger girl. 

“Lu? You good?” Luca’s eyes snapped forward, meeting Kani’s piercing blue ones. She blinked. “Yeah, I’m fine.” 

Adriana’s hand clutched hers. Luca wanted to be mad at the sympathetic act, she didn’t need to be babied after all, but the look on Adriana’s face had her words catching in her throat. “We know you’re worried about Elan. It’s okay. Everything’s gonna be okay.” 

“I’ll kill him.” Luca choked out. It was all she could say about the man since she came through the gao only an hour before, throwing garbage cans and basketballs and anything else she could find clean across the court in frustration. Michelle has calmed her down, insisted he would get what he deserved. Adriana was the only one to catch the hardened expression Michelle turned away with.

Each day that passed, secrets grew. It worried her, it worried them all. 

“I think Chelley might beat you to it.” Kani mumbled, tracing a piece of blue chalk around the concrete. A soft chuckle from Luca. She was finding it harder and harder to laugh these past few days. Leave it to Kani to make things slightly better. 

“Okay, so you still good to be the driver tonight? If not, it’s fine, we’ll find another way.” Kani hadn’t asked before, she had just kind of assumed Luca would be okay with it, but not she was presenting her with a choice. Luca didn’t have to think twice. “I’ll do it. I wouldn’t let you do this without me, Kan.” 

Both girls smiled wide, Adriana’s more nervous smile following seconds after. Her hesitation lingered for another moment, before fading into adrenaline. “Good. Let’s go.”

>>><<<

Robbing a bank, as it turned out, was a lot harder than stealing from a gas station. Firstly, cameras were everywhere; across the street, in the building, outside the building, a whole block away from the building. Secondly, the alarms; one faulty wire and the entire place would be swarming with cops in no time. Lastly, the safes; each one had a different code and there was no telling how much was in each.

A feeling of unease sat in the pit of Adriana’s stomach the entire car ride. Earlier that night, Luca had “borrowed” Adriana’s dad’s car, commenting that it would be better to take his for “lack of recognition.” 

She fidgeted with her hands folded in her lap. It was happening. They were going to rob a bank. When had she become rebellious? Despite her friends’ actions, Adriana herself wasn’t much like them.

Sure, she loved them both and would do anything for them, but as far as society and the roles they played were concerned, they had no business interacting with each other. 

Kani and Luca had grown up in the same circle, practically neighbors with eerily similar parents and even more similar lives. However, the friendship between them didn’t start until they were 13, when Luca got caught red-handed in a shopping mall.

It wasn’t really clear what the security officers who had caught her planned to do with her, she was just a kid back then, but it didn’t seem to matter to 13-year-old Kani. As if they had been best friends all their lives, Kani immediately jumped in front of the bullet for Luca.

“Mother will be so mad you’ve wondered off.” Adriana recalls the mocking way Kani had retold the tale. She had sweet-talked the officers and fake-cried until they let them both go. Adriana remembered thinking Kani was one hell of an actress.

“Thank you for that.” Luca had said when they were far enough away from the officers and Kani had let go of the arm she was tugging her by. Kani had shrugged, pulling her blue jacket around her skinny frame. “We gotta look out for our own. Rats protect rats, right?”

Luca had known what she meant. Street rats, it was what everyone who didn’t like to use the word “criminals” for 13-year-olds called them. Luca always preferred the word “criminals.” 

They’d been inseparable since then, planning out all their schemes together and learning from each other’s quirks. It was a strange friendship, formed by two people who didn’t really want anything to do with others, now suddenly attached at the hip. 

Adriana wanted to be that close to someone. She saw it in so many of the other friendships. Nadine and Sonia, Luca and Kani, even Michelle and Elan were closer than anyone would have thought at first glance. She was close to all the girls, she supposed, but she didn’t think she was anyone’s first choice.

A cold touch derailed her train of thought and sent a shiver down her spine. Kani’s cold palm rested against her left bicep. “What’s got you thinking so hard?” Kani joked, white ski mask tied up like a beanie atop her head.

“Just thinking about you two.” Adriana replied. The way Kani’s eyes shined in the street lights, dancing with absolute wonder and mischief, it filled Adriana with a strange sense of nostalgia. A sense of longing for something she couldn’t remember ever having known.

It was like homesickness despite never having a home.

She couldn’t lie, she had somehow developed feelings for Kani along the way, but she had come to terms long ago with Kani’s complicated relationship with Sonia. She was okay with it, she really was. It stung only slightly when she found out from someone else and not her best friend.

Kani shifted next to her, pulling the mask down over her face and staring out the window. Yellow hues soaked her in color, even behind the ski mask, she looked straight out of a film.

Adriana always thought Kani had the face of a movie star, her face wasn’t as standardly attractive as it was memorable. Her lips pinched at the sides and her nose had a straight slope downward and sometimes her jaw seemed disproportionate to the rest of her face, but her eyes always seemed to shine the brightest blue and skin broke into freckles in the sun and baby-faced cheeks always balled up at the top of her cheekbones.

She often times looked at Adriana with an unspoken emotion hiding behind the gaze, and for a second, Adriana always thought maybe Kani reciprocated what she felt. But it hadn’t taken long for Adriana to realize Kani Wyatt belonged to nobody, no place, and absolutely nothing at all. She was a wild card and she liked it that way.

The rest of the ride seemed to stretch on for hours, the other two leaving Adriana to her inner monologue for the time being. When Luca announced they just just a block or two away from the building, Adriana’s nerves suddenly sparked up from deep within her subconscious.

This was it. They were about to commit a crime against the federal government. Why wasn’t she full on freaking out? Why did she even agree to this in the first place?

She knew damn well why. Her father’s treatment required so much money, money her family didn’t have and money they couldn’t make no matter how hard they tried. Fundraisers didn’t raise enough, whatever aide they had didn’t cover the expenses, her mother was rejected for a loan. She needed this, it was the only way.

Hands vibrating at an alarming frequency, Adriana felt like she could throw up any moment. To her left, Kani was gathering the bags, speaking to Luca in hushed tones, presumably about the car and the getaway. 

What if they tripped the alarm system? What if they couldn’t pull it off? What if there was someone working? Oh that would be bad. Really bad. She clutched the ski mask tighter.

“Adri?” came Luca’s voice from the front, “you okay? You’re looking a little pale back there.” She said it with a chuckle, but the statement made Adriana queasy. All she could offer was a weak nod. The seat next to her was empty now, through the window, she could see Kani with several bags, attaching them to her body in various ways.

Her palms sweat as she climbed out of the car, almost knocking herself over when a bag was thrown in her direction. “Put that on your back and this one on your hip, we’re gonna need to book it.” Kani said from the opposite side of the car.

Adriana’s heart beat out of her chest, so loud she could hear the blood rushing through her ears. “Are you sure about this?” She whispered seemingly to the wind. The lack of reaction, she assumed, meant Kani didn’t hear.

The bags, though empty, felt heavy against her sides and back, pulling on all her muscles. Her weight was horribly undistributed, her feet struggling to catch traction, and her entire body feeling tense. She didn’t even realize when her feet moved in the same direction Kani was walking, across the street and into a dark alley just before the corner.

Silence fell over them as the younger of the two stared at the watch on her left wrist, counting quietly to herself and keeping time by tapping her foot. Adriana wasn’t sure what she was counting, but the determination on her face told her it was vital.

Kani made a vague gesture, and it took a moment for Adriana to find out what she meant. The mask. It felt tight over her head, breathing was a little difficult and it smelled like somebody’s car garage. 

The eye holes had obviously been cut with kitchen scissors and some of the stray strings rubbed uncomfortably below her eye. The tightness of the mask made her increasingly uncomfortable but it didn’t seem to bother Kani one bit.

“What are we waiting for?” She found herself whispering. Kani’s gaze snapped up from her watch. 

“Luca’s getting rid of the alarm system.” Kani replied easily and casually, as if it were obvious. 

“How in the hell is she gonna do that?” 

Kani shrugged. “She’s good at that kind of stuff. This is going to be an easy job for me and you, almost too easy when you think about it.”

“Easy enough you could do it by yourself?”

A smirk graced Kani’s face behind her mask. “What would be the fun in that?”

Adriana rolled her eyes, but still felt a mirroring smirk on her own lips. “You said it’s too easy when we think about it? Isn’t that concerning?” 

“That’s why I don’t think about it.”

A small  _ beep  _ emitted from Kani’s wristwatch. “She’s done.” 

They shuffled out of the alleyway, balling the bags up by their hips to run faster. They had seen the entrance to the bank many times over the years, it was one of the only banks in their town and one of the most popular ones. The double glass doors had a welcome sign, the pillars on each side encrusted in gold. 

Kani knelt down in front of the doors, two small items Adriana didn’t recognize in her hands. As Kani began to insert one of the tools into the keyhole, a thought went off in Adriana’s head. “What about the security cameras? The ones across the street and on the street?”

Kani didn’t seem phased. “Luca knocked them out too. There’s a very low chance that she missed anything.”

The lock clicked several times, then a louder click resonated and the door opened silently. Even through the mask, the smile that reached from cheek-to-cheek on Kani’s face was vibrant as ever.

The tile floor inside made an annoying  _ thud  _ noise when their boots hit, and Adriana thanked the lord above that there wasn’t an actual guard in the building. She followed silently behind her partner in crime, trusting that one of them knew where she was going.

They reached an ugly orange door behind the front counter, blocked off with velvet ropes and an “employees only” sign. Kani paid attention to neither and climbed over the ropes as she got to work on the lock. This one took slightly more time than the front door lock, and the concentrated face the younger pulled would’ve been adorable if they weren’t committing a literal felony.

When she finally pushed the disgustingly colored door open, the blue-eyed girl hesitated. A second passed. Two seconds. Then, she sighed in relief. “Luca did a good job disarming all the alarms.” She whispered as they traveled deeper into the dark room.

There were two doors to the right, both labeled as being employees only access, both required a keycard to get in. There were also some shelves on the left side of the room, unmarked cards filled boxes sat in neat rows. Each box had a different label signifying their use. Kani didn’t even glance at the contents of the room, making a beeline for the door in the back.

A keypad was placed above the handle, a scanner on the right side of the door itself. Adriana followed close behind, wondering how Kani planned to get through this door. As if sensing her thoughts, Kani reached into her back pocket and from it emerged a card with a picture of a man she had never seen before.

“Lifted it off a worker the other day when I was scouting the place.” Kani explained as she swiped the card. The small light turned green and Kani crouched in front of the keypad. She placed a small device on the pad, barely bigger than her pinky finger and it lit up like a christmas tree.

The red lights on the device turned green one by one and numbers appeared on the keypad beneath it. Four numbers were entered into the pad by the device before a loud noise was heard and the door opened. 

Kani smiles slyly and removed the small box, sticking it in her bag with a satisfied grin. “What is that?” Adriana asked while Kani entered the room. “You know, things would seem a lot simpler to you if you stopped asking questions.” The younger replied with a playful smirk.

She reached for a light switch on the left side of the room and the entire layout became clear. Metal boxes lined the walls, each one marked with a name tag. Adriana marveled at the rows and rows of compartments. 

Some people’s livelihood relied on these small containers, and she suddenly felt a ping of guilt. These people hadn’t done anything to her, why was it them who had to suffer because it of her struggles? That didn’t seem quite fair.

Her train of thought was derailed at the sound of one of the boxes opening, Kani standing in front with a stethoscope and a grin so wide and sly, it was easily comparable to the Cheshire Cat’s.

The bag attached to Kani’s left hip unzipped and piles upon piles began to fill the empty space. Adriana stood frozen for a split second. It couldn’t have been that easy. No alarms, no security, nothing. It was all just codes, codes easily hackable by a 17-year-old. She waited for the punchline, for the cops to fall through the ceiling tile or for a security guard to perform a sneak attack. She was met with silence and the sight of Kani’s duffle almost overflowing.

The empty bag on her shoulder began to feel very, very heavy. She wasn’t sure how long she stood there, just staring at the back of her friend’s head, or when exactly she had started to move, but she felt her feet carry her to the third box Kani had ripped open, and began shoveling stacks into the bags. 

They hadn’t even finished a full row when their bags began to weigh down their limbs, the weight of the stacks spilling out causing them to move slower than before. The mask was incredibly itchy against Adriana’s nose but the bag’s mass refused to let her do anything. 

Kani had just ripped open the box next to her, heaping massive amounts on top of the already overwhelming number of stacks. It was at this moment, she caught sight of one of the names at the top of the box. “ _ Lynch.” _

The name felt familiar, but Adriana couldn’t place where she knew any Lynches. All the kids in town either went to her school, Kani and Nadine’s, or homeschooled. Nobody named Lynch she could recall. The question sat on her tongue and just as she was about to speak it out loud, Kani slammed the box shut. 

“We’ve got enough. Let’s go.” Her words and tone were serious, but the glint in her eyes was as mischievous as it had always been. 

Adriana didn’t argue, she simply zipped up her bags and followed. 

Kani had never been crystal clear, there was always some layer to her that remained a mystery. Every time Adriana thought she’d cracked another layer, that maybe she was finally going to know  _ everything,  _ there would be something else. A glint in her eyes, a quirk of the lips, an eyebrow raise. These were all signs that Kani was still undoubtedly one step ahead of the game. 

She had learned to accept long ago that no one would ever truly know Kani Wyatt, no one would ever truly understand her. It was most difficult for Adriana, she herself was an openbook, hardly leaving anything up to the imagination. She was a surface-level person and nothing she said or did went deeper than that. Kani was like a puzzle who always seemed to be missing a piece. 

The night hair was crisper than it had been when they arrived, and the moon hung in the sky like a giant beacon, a vague warning sign. Both girls rounded the corner at the same time, sprinting across the empty street to where the car was parked among the shadows. 

She waited until she was sitting down in the backseat before ripping off the sticky cloth molded to her face. A melody of laughter came from beside her and she looked to Kani to see the other smiling at her, reaching over to smooth down her hair. 

“I can't believe we just did that.” Adriana eyes the four bags of money in the floorboard. 

The car sped down the road as Luca glanced at the floorboard. “Holy shit,” she exclaimed, “how much did you take?!”

Kani shrugged as she closed one of the bags. “We’ll find out.” 

The drive back was oddly calm, a soft beat coming from the radio that blended with the wind flying past their faces. They were the only ones out at this hour, the only ones who dared to be. Road signs and traffic lights blurred together in one big haze, and Adriana’s mind drifted once more.

What could she tell her mother? It would be a dead giveaway to offer her the amount of money she would acquire once it was split. She  _ supposed _ she could give it to her in small portions, spend the days with Kani under the guise of having a job.

Where would she hide it? Glancing at the bag, it was difficult to estimate how much was in them, but just by sight, it seemed like more than enough for all three. It was then she realized, she still wasn’t sure what Luca was using the money for.

Probably a trip somewhere, somewhere far away from Winston. Luca was typical, she was a stereotype and she fit it well. The town couldn’t give her what she deserved and she had full intentions to leave it in the dust one day. 

Each of the seven girls knew these things. They knew the ones who would always stay, the ones who wouldn’t go far, and the ones who would never remember this town after they crossed the state line. The who wasn’t the difficult part, it was the when. 

They were 17, all of them, and adulthood was just over the hill of high school. The struggles of their families had already begun to catch up with them and none of it was working lightly. 

Even as she stared at the houses she had always known the sights of, Adriana couldn’t help but think that she was truthfully ignorant as to who lived in a single one, and what went on behind the image of indifference. She was all too familiar with the things one could hide behind a closed door.

“Do you mind if we count it at yours?” It was Luca who broke the silence. Adriana shook her head, knowing her mother would be spending another night at the hospital. She did that a lot these days, but Adriana was no stranger to loneliness, so she supposed it was alright. Her mother was of more use there than she was wallowing around their home here.

The bags were hauled in one-by-one and sat on the dining room table, a worried look temporarily passing over Luca’s face before disappearing just as quickly. Four black duffles took up the entire space of the small wooden table and their presence looked over the three of them. 

Kani made the first move. She picked up one of the bags and turned it over, spilling out countless bundles of cash. “Well,” she said with a deep inhale, “time to get busy.”

>>><<<

Three hours had passed, maybe four, when they finally finished counting. Luca’s anxiety had spiked even higher once they hit 300,000 dollars, and it only continued to grow when she saw how much they had left. The girls stood in silence surrounding the table. Nobody knew what to say. Nobody expect Kani.

“What the fuck.” Always classy.

Luca’s hands flew to her hair, tugging and pulling and dragging her jaw behind her. “How in the hell did you manage to grab this much. How in the hell did—oh my god.”

975,000 dollars sat on the table in front of them. Close to one million dollars they had stolen in a mere hour. Adriana’s lungs suddenly felt very inadequate. “Well, there goes the petty crime plan.” Kani joked with a nervous giggle. Luca shot her a glare.

“No shit! We stole almost a million fucking dollars, from multiple people! It’s not like this is the same as stealing a fucking soda from the convenience store!” The Hungarian was shouting. 

“How does a bank as small as that have this much money?” Adriana’s voice was barely above a whisper. She felt sick to her stomach. This would definitely make national news. Holy shit. Holy shit, she just stole a million dollars.

“Is it clean?” Luca countered. Kani looked deep in thought for a prolonged moment. “Yeah.” she said, “It’s clean. There’s some pretty wealthy families nearby, I’m sure it came from them.” 

Again, they were met with silence. Luca looked about five seconds from having a panic attack.

“Good news is, it splits evenly into three.”

Adriana couldn’t help but laugh at that. A chuckle even escaped Luca. The sun was beginning to rise outside the kitchen window, and each girl was starting to feel the effects of their night. Adriana had never been so tired.

“Each girl will hold on to her bag. Don’t let anyone know you have it. This dies with us.” Luca spoke with a new authority in her voice, a sense of determination. Whatever she was planning to do with the money, it wasn’t going to be cheap. They nodded, piling the respective amounts into their bags, and parted ways. 

Kani stayed behind, lingering by the front door for a second too long. “What is it?” Adriana asked while leaning against the arch. Kani smiled, a genuine and bright smile that didn’t have even a hint of mystery to it. “I hope things work out with your dad. I hope this fixes things.”

The door closed behind her, leaving Adriana standing shocked in her foyer, and watching the sunrise from her position.

>>><<<

They didn’t talk about it. Not even when they were alone, it was as if it had never been a thing. 

She was right about the national news, reporters and police cars swarmed the bank in the days following, asking anyone and everyone what they knew about a potential blackout. 

“The entire block was blacked out for hours, but none of the residents experienced a power outage. This has got to be the strangest thing I’ve ever seen,” one officer ranted to the other as Adriana passed on her way to school. 

They had gotten away with it so far, but they didn’t have long before things were about to get very, very bad.

>>><<<

_ RIIIIIIIIING! _

The piercing chime of a cell phone thrusted her from her slumber, sending her flying forward in the bed and gripping at the sheets. It was the fourth time this week she had had the same nightmare, forgetting the details of it everytime. The fourth time this week she had woken up with sweat drenching her body and her breathing rigid. A groan from her left startled her and sent her flying from the mattress.

“What the hell are you doing, Kani?” Sonia whined as she sat up, blankets pooling around her legs. Kani sighed, bracing herself against the frame and taking a deep breath. 

“Just nightmares. It’s fine.” She replied, climbing back into the covers. Despite sweating, her body felt cold. Another chime reminded her of what had woken her up to begin with. The nightmare hadn’t been over. Sonia leaned over, feeling around for her phone in the dark until her hand located it.

“Hey,” she spoke through a voice laced with sleep, “yeah. Yes. Cut to the chase. Oh, really? Yeah. I’ll be right there.” Sonia hung up. 

“Where are you going, it’s three in the morning.” Kani moaned as she rolled over, barely able to open her eyes. Sonia was already throwing her clothes on and fixing her hair. 

“It was Michelle and Nadine. They need my help with something.” Her response was vague and clipped. Kani furrowed her eyebrows, glancing at the clock one more time. “At this hour?”

Sonia ceased her movements, halfway through buttoning up her jeans. “Yes,” she confirmed, “it’s not a big deal, I can take care of myself.” 

“No, I know. It’s just kind of weird. Go, and be sure to text me when you get home.” Kani sighed, defeated and too tired to argue. They seemed to be doing that a lot lately. 

“Sure, mom.” Sonia rolled her eyes and scoffed, shoving her phone in her back pocket as she did. She left without another word, and with a bundle of her clothing in her arms. 

Kani flipped back over in the bed, staring at the blank ceiling for what felt like an hour. She and Sonia weren’t dating, she wasn’t sure what they were doing, but they weren’t romantically involved. Kani spent countless amounts of time wondering how she ended up in these situations, how she always managed to do this to herself. She had yet to find an answer.

The only thing left to do now was to go back into the nightmare, and finish what she wouldn’t remember starting.

>>><<<

November 26th.

It had been eight days since the robbery, eight days since they’d gotten away with it. But this day would be a day none of them would ever forget. 

“And in local news, a man in Winston has gone missing. Police say 45-year-old Klah Malik disappeared from his home last Monday around 5:00 A.M. Police are asking you to contact them if you have any information regarding his whereabouts.”

The TV switched off with a  _ click.  _

“Elan’s father is missing?” Nadine spoke slowly in disbelief. They each stared at the black screen with open mouths, almost as if they were expecting it to be a joke. 

“No one knows anything right now, Elan isn’t allowed to leave her house.” Luca flopped down on the loveseat, kicking her legs over the arm of the chair and settling in Michelle’s lap. 

“How do they know he’s missing and not just taking a break?” Kani suggested, weakly. Luca chewed on her bottom lip in both discomfort and thought. “I’m assuming it isn’t like him to just walk out? I don’t know, I try to stay away from him honestly.” 

A collective nod from the others. “How’s El doing?” Sonia asked from the floor, cuddling up against one of the couch pillows. Luca sighed rather loud. “Okay, I think. She isn’t talking much.”

Just as Adriana went to say something, her phone rang, the annoying chime giving the girl next to her a grade four headache. They all sat in silence as Adriana dismissed herself from the group, taking the call in another room. 

“What’s up with all the vague calls all of a sudden?” Kani spoke her mind out loud and she was met with confused looks from three of the other girls. She just shrugged in response.

Adriana came rushing back in, snatching up her jacket and her phone and running towards the door. Each girl called after her, but she didn’t stop her haste until she was standing in front of her car with tears streaming down her face. 

>>><<<

Adriana never liked hospitals for many reasons.

They smelled awful and reminded her of when her mother would force medicine down her throat as a small child. The lights were too bright to see anything, and they were nearly blinding to look at. Sick people, people who wouldn’t be getting better, were at every corner she turned.

Hospitals had always managed to put a sinking feeling in her stomach, but never had it felt so empty as it did now. The route was familiar to her body now and she was able to lose herself in thought while her feet carried her to the end of the hall. 

White coats and blue latex gloves surrounded her mother’s crying face and slouched figure. They parted like the Red Sea when they saw her barreling down the hallway, allowing her to safely run right into her mother's arms and break into tears.

>>><<<

Nothing seemed fair anymore. The rich stole from the poor to be richer. The greedy took from the giving to be greedier. The good died for the bad so the bad could be worse. It was an endless cycle of unfairness.

The doctors hadn’t allowed her in the room, insisting that it was too sensitive of a sight to see. It didn’t matter what they thought, it didn’t matter what anyone thought. Her entire world had turned on its head in the span of a few hours. 

Her father’s condition had been bad, but she had never expected it to be fatal. Her vision blurred and her head spun with every passing second. What was she going to do now? He was gone. He was gone and he wasn’t coming back.

Memories flew around her head in a whirl of images and words, it made her toes curl. The thought of never seeing him again, never hearing his voice or feeling his touch, sat in the back of her mind, but it didn’t process. It probably wouldn’t process for a few more days. 

Her mother was a wreck, as expected. It was difficult to have to watch as her mother broke down over and over again, and she tried to be there for her as much as she could. It wasn’t easy. She just had to have hope that things would be okay.

“Breaking News: Investigators have identified the license plate belonging to the vehicle involved in a 975 thousand dollar bank heist that occurred this past weekend in downtown Winston.”

If it were possible, she felt her stomach sink even lower. A shiver ran down her spine as the car was shown. A camera in the alley, barely able to see the car, but enough to gather the license plate. She watched in horror as her father’s license plate and picture was displayed on the television screen of the hospital. Oh god. Oh  _ fuck _ .

Panic coursed through her veins and she could do nothing for several seconds, frozen in time. The sound of her mother's heels against tile down the hall scared her out of her state and she realized one thing; she couldn’t let her mother know.

Adriana reached up and unplugged the TV, practically slicing the cord in half before she did the only thing she knew she could do: she ran. She ran as fast as she could with tears brimming in her eyes, with a heart heavy in her chest and a body exhausted and fatigued. She ran with all she had in her and though it wasn’t much, it was enough to get her to her car and out of the hospital parking lot.

She had never driven as fast as she drove to her house, the gas pedal practically glued to the floor by the time she pulled in. The money. It was hidden poorly in the back of her closet, still enclosed in the black duffle bag she had used that night. Adriana knew of only one thing she could do now; She had to hide the evidence. 

Her heartbeat hammered loudly in her ears, she could almost hear her own blood pumping through her body. Everything felt very hot and she felt very weak as she dug out the bag, and dragged it down the stairs to the kitchen table. The contents piled on the table, a large pile sat in front of her. How could she get rid of all of this? 

She didn’t need it anymore but she couldn’t hide it anywhere and there was no telling what would happen if she tried to spend it. No, she needed to destroy it. 

There was fire-starter on the mantle and the second her eyes found it, she knew what she had to do. Was she willing to burn her table for it? Absolutely. The fire-starter soaked the bills and for a second she thought they might have just dissolved. Her shirt was soaked as well, and to avoid ending her own life, she stripped it off, leaving herself in only jeans and a sports bra while she eyed the pack of matches she had taken down from the cabinet.

Adriana lit a single match and stared at it, challenged it. The small flame flickered back and forth, growing only to minimize itself seconds later. Her head hurt and for one final time, she debated her options.

And came up empty. There was nothing else she could do now. The match fell from her fingers and engulfed the soaked bills in flames.

>>><<<

The news had reached more than one person.

When Adriana wasn’t available and Nadine’s parents were home, Kani typically stayed at the old convenience store near her house. The owner was an old man, old enough to be her grandfather, and she never stole a single thing from him out of curiosity for his business. 

The man had scars that blankets his hands and face, thin white lines with stories she would never ask to hear about. It had been a quiet evening there, an evening of the man who went by Joe listening to Kani relay her problems to him. 

He was smiling and nodding along from behind the register when she heard it. The anchor recounted the details of the robbery, the one she had committed, and her eyes were no doubt blown wide.

The license plate. They had the license plate, and they had Adriana’s father’s name. It wouldn’t take much research for the police to figure out that it wasn’t Juán and even less for them to figure out about Adriana. 

She rushed out, throwing Joe a goodbye and dialing Adriana’s number. Dial tone. Kani grunted in frustration and left Adriana a frantic message to call her immediately, not wanting to discuss this over the phone. Luca. She had to warn Luca.

There wasn’t any doubt in her mind that the older had most definitely snuck to Elan’s house and climbed in through the window, but Kani didn’t have time for that. The front door of Elan’s house was unlocked.

Kani burst it open and marched towards the stairs, completely ignoring the cries and questions of Elan’s mother behind her. 

They weren’t in Elan’s room, nor in the living room. There was only one more place they could be in this house. The bathroom at the end of the hall had a yellow door and height marks on the side from Elan’s childhood. The light shone under the door was all the indication Kani needed.

She tried the handle, pulling and pushing with all her might as she called for Luca through the door. No answer. Elan’s mother was still demanding answers from 10 steps behind her when she finally lost her patience.

With a particularly hard push, the door handle broke and Kani flew into the small bathroom, stumbling a little as she managed to catch herself on the sink. 

The sight in front of her had every word she had previously thought disappearing from her brain and dying on her tongue. Orange pill bottles in front of the bathtub, empty. The sink running and overflowing onto the tile floor. Luca and Elan, side by side in the bathtub, hands clasped together, their bodies still. Lifeless.

From down the hall, Kani could only make out four of the frantic words shouted by Elan’s mother.

“CALL 911!”

>>><<<

The fire had almost burned out, the bills and any evidence of their existence black and charred on the table. Adriana thought she had time. She thought she could get away. She almost did. Almost.

Before the police kicked down the door to her house, before they rushed in and grabbed her by the arms and dragged her to the ground. Before she put up no resistance and didn’t say a word, before she was taken to the police station for questioning.

Adriana Vasquez almost got away with it. Almost. 

+++

_ Seven Years _

Location: Somewhere at the Edge of Winston.

Keys rattling. Metal squeaking. The rhythmic drip of water from a leaking ceiling. The clock on the wall showed 7:47 A.M. It had been stuck like that for years, jagged plastic and a broken second hand blocking the view of the number eight.

There were many things one grew accustomed to behind the bars of the Winston Federal Penitentiary. The meals were bland and the showers were cold, but often times it was rare to pass up on either. In retrospect, federal prison was nearly as bad as correctional facilities.

Judging by the guards on shift, the inmates were able to guess it was around 8:00 in the morning, close to the time they would be forced to get up and hit the showers. A guard approached one particular cell at the end of the hall.

“Vasquez,” her voice was gruff and slightly hoarse, “Come with me.” The keys rattled some more and the metal squeaked even louder as Adriana Vasquez lifted herself from the granite floor. Today was the day. 

A lot had happened in the course of seven years. Her appearance seemed to shift, her hair grew longer, her face more defined and her muscles certainly bigger. She couldn’t remember the last time actual makeup products had touched her face, or when she had last showered with actual soap. 

The guard led her down a long, narrow hallway, stopping in front of a door with several locks on it. The Warden opened the door, and motioned for the both of them to enter. 

There were several questions, ones that seemed to blur together in her mind alongside her answers. She told them what she knew they wanted to hear, what she knew they thought were lies. She told nothing but the truth, that she wouldn’t do it again, that she would meet with an officer, that she had a life to return to.

She was then strip searched, and thrown from the hands of one guard to the next as they led her to a holding cell temporarily. After 40 minutes of bored silence, they returned, a new guard by the second ones side. 

The third guard led her to what seemed to be a quiet waiting room where yet another guard handed her back everything she had come in with. A sports bra which she no longer fit into, jeans that would constrict her thighs, a pair of shoes with a while in the toes, and a small leather wallet with her name sewed in.

Words, faces and fake smiles all seemed to instantly become memories. The dark hallways she had come to know better than her childhood home seemed to fade into nothing more than a figment of her imagination the second the doors opened.

She took a moment to absorb it. It was brighter than she had remembered, the wind was colder and the trees outside were different than they had been when she came in. She hadn’t noticed the outside changes in there. 

The leaves crunched under her feet as she walked, the feeling of fresh air coasting through her lungs felt like heaven. At the gate, she could see her mother and her car, calmly and patiently waiting. 

She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but the cold gaze of her mother's eyes neither surprised nor felt expected to her. Her mother had aged in the face and gained many wrinkles since the last time she’d seen her. Her hair was spots of gray and her eyes seemed much sadder.

Adriana realized how long it had been since she had seen her mother. She hadn’t realized how long it had been since she’d seen  _ anyone.  _

The drive back was silent and tense, Adriana spent most of it staring out of the passengers side window, running her hands along the frayed fabric of her jeans. Her mother kept her eyes firmly glued to the road and the lack of emotion in her face gave Adriana a sinking feeling in her chest.

Her hometown came into view, the outside looking not much different than before. A few shops had opened on street corners, a few more had closed and the park had definitely been expanded, but overall it was the same place she had left.

The neighborhood had suffered a great change. The houses were either torn down or under new ownership completely, it seemed only about four families she recognized still remained. Her mind drifted back to the courtyard beyond the alley and the faces of her friends from years before. She wondered where they were now.

The car stopped in front of her home. The yellow paint was chipped and the shutters were almost nailed down. The home looked familiar, but it wasn’t the home she had left. It was the walk up the stairs she had once traveled everyday that reminded her of why. 

Her mother had lived in agony for those 7 years she was gone. No husband, no children, just herself in the house alone for what must have seemed like an endless amount of time. Adriana sort of knew what she felt like. 

Her room was one of the only things that hadn’t changed a single bit. The dresser was still packed with clothing she could no longer wear, the walls were still covered in drawings and photos from her teenage years, the bedspread and pillow cases still green, pink and yellow. 

Her room was exactly how she had left it, down to the unlatched lock on her window. Her mind wandered back to her friends. What would they be doing now? Where had they gone? Had any of them stayed?

It was hard to think that so much time had passed, so much that could’ve been done and said. A weight settled in her chest and she was overcome with a need to shower and take a nap. 

The bathroom at the end of the hall was slightly different too. The once white paint and blue shower curtain were both replaced, a light brown hue in place of the white and a beach themed curtain hanging where the velvet blue once had. 

Neither of these things are what stood out to Adriana though. What stood out was a shiny, gold package laying in the bathtub below a high window. The envelope was heavy and thick, and stamped with a red wax seal. On the back, an address was written in neat, calligraphic handwriting.

_ Adriana Vasquez, The Healer _

>>><<<

Location: Downtown Winston.

  
  


Loud sounds were things one had to get used to in the construction business. Drills, running machinery, and the hammering of nails were just part of everyday life sounds and dirt, overalls and hard hats had become uniform. It wasn’t typically a place where one would expect to find someone as suave and posh as Michelle Tran.

Of course, she was full of surprises.

“That beam isn’t sturdy enough. The floor will bounce too much.” Michelle was quick on her feet to comment on the work of her staff, quick to point out a stray detail or correct an innocent mistake. At 24, she had made a name for herself as one of the most successful architects in her city. She made plenty of money but she wasn’t in the business for the money.

“Ms. Tran,” a younger boy ran up on her left side, sweat and rust clinging to his face, “the prints that we have aren’t the newest ones. I’m not sure where the new ones are but they’re not correct and we can’t build it right if—“

He was silenced by a slender finger against his lips. Michelle grinned, but it was cold and without emotion. These days, her black eyes always seemed a bit too empty, a bit too sinister. 

“I know where the newest ones are. Continue what you can, I’ll take care of it. You’re in charge.” She removed her finger from the boy’s lips and pivoted on her heel. Of course they hadn’t grabbed the prints she’d left. Nobody around her could their jobs except for her, she supposed.

The company office was located in the center of town, but what Michelle often referred to as her “home office” was located just on the outskirts of the big city. The manufacturing district, as the locals called it, was the perfect place, hidden in plain sight.

The storage center was run by an old couple who could barely remember their own names sometimes. Michelle made an effort to be friendly with them, but not overly friendly. Storage unit #179 was the second to last on the left third row, the front metal door imprinted with dirt and dents. 

Beyond the scraped door, three items lay hidden in their places: A small tin bucket, filled with messy hand-drawn blueprints; a 7-year-old designer blazer coated with blood that once belonged to a businessman, rolled up and stuffed in a corner; and an unmarked machine, surrounded by various metal parts and tools. 

Michelle focused on the small bucket, digging through a variety of blueprints until her fingers brushed a foreign material.

“There you are,” she remarked to no one in particular as she pulled out the blueprint. The print lifted easily, but the bottom caught on the sides of the container. She tugged. Nothing happened.

Reaching back in the bucket, her fingers swept the foreign paper once more. She pulled and the material strung free. A thick golden envelope glistened in the sunlight pouring into the otherwise dark space. A red wax seal stared back at her as she ghosted her fingertips over the letter.

_ Michelle Tran, The Inventor. _

>>><<<

Location: The Backroads of Winston 

A black cat slept peacefully on a counter coated in grime, undisturbed by the sound of a wrench hitting metal again and again. The pink name tag around the cat's neck was chipped and heart-shaped, having not been touched in seven years. “Salem” the tag read.

Bolts tightened and drills sounded, the cat remaining unphased at the noise. Luca Lakotas chuckled from her position under her car. Nothing seemed to wake that cat up anymore. She pushed back and rolled out from underneath the red vehicle. 

Salem rolled over on the counter, almost knocking over an oil can. The Hungarian laughed as she wiped her hands on a rag. Despite only being in the garage a few minutes, she was already sweating bullets. 

“Alex! I’m taking a five minute break.”

Alex, a man in his late 20s with curly hair and a pale complexion, popped his head from his office. There was rust and god knows what else matted on his forehead and palms. 

“You taking the demon with you?” Alex asked while gesturing to Salem. Luca grinned, throwing a glance toward the still sleeping feline. 

“He seems perfectly comfortable.” 

Alex’s face scrunched up in distaste but he nodded nonetheless. The younger laughed, unzipping her suit down to the waist and letting it hang. 

“Hey uh, it’s the 12th,” her coworker said with a scratch of his head. Luca raised an eyebrow, throwing her hair in a tight ponytail. 

“It is.” She was not sure where this was going. Alex hesitated.

“Your uh, your old friend got out today. It was in the local news.” He all but threw the newspaper in front of her. The front page showed Adriana’s face, next to the headline “Winston Bank Robber released from 7 Year Prison Sentence.”

A knot formed in her throat at the mention of her friend’s name in the first line. Luca had spent the last seven years trying to forget, trying to block out the mistake she had made that night. If only she hadn’t moved the car or missed that camera, it wouldn’t have ever happened.

She’d been admitted to a hospital before she even knew what was happening, nurses and doctors surrounding her and mumbling under their breath about her condition. There were people there, all asking her questions or for an interview of some sort. 

The next few days had been an absolute nightmare. Police came in asking her questions and ignored when she asked about Elan. The staff at the hospital explained she and Elan had to have both their stomachs pumped and had both survived. The rest was fuzzy, the only significant detail being Elan’s mother standing off to the side in the hall and explaining to the police that she would be admitting her daughter to a psychiatric hospital.

“You can’t do that! It’s your fucking fault she even did it! It’s your fault!” Luca had thrashed and shouted against the doctors who held her down. She struggled against the wires she was hooked to and was pretty sure a few of them had been pulled out. 

When she was brought in for questioning, she and Kani were the main two suspects besides Adriana and they had experience with the types of questions they would be asked. They held their own and covered their asses. Adriana hadn’t been so lucky and she cracked under pressure and signed away a confession and seven years of her life.

It never failed to make Luca feel like shit for what happened, and soon after she cut contact with everyone, including Kani. They wouldn’t allow her to visit Elan and there was no telling when she would be allowed to leave. 

And so, she waited. She abandoned her plans to run far away from the city and stayed locally, near where she had grown up. She hit every point in her life before she was even 20. Alcoholism, attempting college, attempting and failing at getting a job, cutting off her hair and dyeing it white (part of which still remained at the bottom of her hair now), shitty relationships and disappointing her family. 

She had essentially nothing to fall back on when she reached the age of 21 and in a heated moment of frustration, she found herself getting in her father’s car and flying down the highway at full speed in the middle of the night. 

What she hadn’t expected was a neighbor of hers, a man who lived down the street and whom she had gone to school with a few years back, to knock on her door the next morning. 

“I saw you last night. You’re a good driver, and the way you drive is brave. Come to my shop this afternoon and we’ll talk.” The boy had said, and he dropped a business card on her doorstep before walking away.

She debated not going that afternoon but she was at her lowest point, and she decided there wasn’t anything more she could lose. The shop was falling apart, the front sign only had two letters still lit up, and it didn’t seem to be very business.

“You asked me to come to your car garage, so here I am.” She announced as she slammed the card on his desk. 

The man smiled and asked her to follow him to the equipment room. She was wary and made sure to remind him that she carried mace. He laughed and continued leading her down a small stairwell into the underneath. 

“To everyone else in town, this is a car repair shop. We do oil changes, body repairs and reconstruction. To the streets, this is where we build our finest cars.” The man reached out and grabbed a sheet, pulling it off a large object in the center of the floor. A posh red race car was parked in the middle, new panels and tires gleaming in the dim light. 

“Our last driver quit last month after a nasty wreck. We’ve been searching for a new one but they all have loyalties to other drivers. The way you were driving last night, I think you could be it.” 

Luca hadn’t meant to, but she let out a rather loud laugh. 

“You want me to race? You’re a street racer and you want me to race for you?” She asked with a stunned expression. The man nodded, flipping his card in his hand as he walked back over to her.

“You win, and you make thousands in one race. You lose, and there goes this week's grocery. It’s a dangerous business and a risky one, but it pays off when you’re good.”

Upon seeing her inner conflict, the man added, “I'll even give you a job here so you can get your folks off your back about the money. You in?”

Street racing. Was it illegal? Yes, very. However, it wasn’t like she hadn’t done worse, hadn’t almost went to jail for worse. It was a way to make money too and he was offering her a job. That was a big one. Perhaps that was the entire reason Luca raised her head, glanced around the shop and spoke the words “I’m in.”

Fast forward four years and here she was, working regularly alongside Alex and racing almost every night like her life depended on it. She rather liked racing and as she would find out, she enjoyed working with cars.

“Yeah,” Luca said as she zoned back in, “I had no idea.” 

“Well, maybe you can pay her a visit sometime. Hey, can you pop the hood on that car you were working on, I need to fix the engine in there.” Alex called as he ducked back in his office. 

Luca kicked the newspaper aside and lifted the hood of the car with a small grunt. Just as she stepped back to go on break, something caught her eye. Right on top of the engine was a golden envelope, thick on the edges and sides and marked with a red wax seal. Luca picked the envelope up from its spot and turned it over.

_ Luca Lakotas, The Watcher. _

>>><<<

Location: An Alley in Downtown Winston.

Dawn would be approaching soon. 

There weren’t many people out at this hour, not very many who dared to risk being out. The night was silent, streetlights creeped around the corners and exploited those who wished to lurk in the shadows. Footsteps echoed down the alley, the boots of a man who had never known fear.

The man continued walking silently down the alley, no doubt on his way home after what was only to be thought of as another successful game. He was a cheater and a liar and a selfish man consumed with greed, that’s how his friend described him, anyway.

_ Thud. Thud. Thud. _

The boots passed a dumpster, continuing their stroll to the end of the alley. He would never make it to the end of the alley. Two nine-inch blades would penetrate his lungs and slice through his chest, and be retracted just as quick. He fell to the ground in a heap, dead.

  
  


The black hood of the man's killer would slip off and pastel pink curls would frame the face of Sonia Iyer. Blood dripped from the blades and painted the sidewalk. Sonia didn’t think twice before grabbing a black bag behind the dumpster and throwing the body into it.

The sun was just over the horizon as she tugged the body down the rest of the alley, making a sharp right to where she had parked the car. There was a distant sound of pedestrians down the street stumbling from bars. Right on time.

The body made a gross noise that sounded like liquid sloshing when it hit the bed of the truck and Sonia scrunched her nose. Sure, she was the reason behind it, but it still sounded disgusting 

In the deep woods of Winston, right at the northern edge of the city, there was a lake that everyone in town went to for the summer. It was huge and the only lake that wasn’t the cause of infections over the years. However, no one really wanted to visit the beautiful attraction in late November.

There was a small cottage right on the edge of the water, so far back that only a dirt road masked with trees led to it. It was old and the wood was rotting on the outside, the only sign of living being clouds of silver smoke that arose from the chimney a few times a week.

Sonia hiked the bag over her shoulder, her small frame making it harder to carry what had been such a large man into the home. She bypassed the couch and the kitchen and headed straight for the small singular bedroom towards the back. What appeared to be a closet door on the right side of the bed and she made a beeline for it. 

There were clothes hung up and shoes on the floor, and with the light off, one wouldn’t even recognize the staircase hidden in the left corner, barely large enough for someone to fit through.

The hidden basement was as large and wide as the house, it smelled of mildew and burning hair and was awfully hot. On the front wall closest to the stairs, a wooden desk sat under several blackboards, filled with names of different criminals, some names marked out and others still listed.

On the left side of the room, a giant furnace burned with flames ablaze inside it. Sonia crosses the room, tossing the body among the flames and closing the furnace. The smell didn’t bother her anymore. After seven years, the room had become like a home to her. 

A piece of white chalk rolled under her boot, marking the floor with an unpleasant scrap. Sonia stopped and picked up the writing utensil, approaching the blackboard above her desk and marked a thin white line through one of the names.

_ Martin Levy.  _

She let the chalk hit the concrete once again, and observed the growing list of names before her. She didn’t have time to dwell, she had new clients to attend to. The job itself was a demanding one and one of the most dangerous, but Sonia didn’t mind it one bit. Hunting criminals paid well. Her boss, whom she had never had the pleasure of meeting or hearing, usually sent her the names of who was top priority in little black envelopes.

Sonia removed a small key from her back pocket, turning to the second drawer on the desk. Black packages scattered among the small compartment stared back at her and on top of them, a large golden envelope.

_ Sonia Iyer, The Savior. _

>>><<<

Location: Winston Psychiatric Center.

If the rhythmic beeping of heart monitors didn’t drive her crazy, the daily manic screaming would. 

Elan Malik sat motionless on her bed, a nurse hovering over to check her vitals and sunlight pouring through the barred windows. It took everything and a straight jacket for her not to grip her hair and start pulling. 

That was the worst thing about this place. The staff was pretty nice overall, the therapy sessions she attended thrice a week weren’t that bad, the food was bland but it stayed down. But the sounds. The sounds killed her slowly and felt like an internal itch in her body trying to claw its way out. 

There was no relief from the noise either, and one would think she would’ve gotten used to it after seven years. Elan never got used to it, maybe it didn’t freak her out any more, and she could actually sleep through some of it these days, but it didn’t stop the constant rattling of bars from giving her a headache.

She knew she had a shot at getting out soon, she just had to wait a little while longer. The staff had gotten pretty used to her, allowing her a few more freedoms than the other patients at times. 

They even snuck her the things people dropped off for her, like the flowers her mother left sometimes and the notes and poetry she occasionally got from an anonymous source. They smuggled her magazines and newspapers and let her do art projects in the common area.

Today, the nurse pulled back her lab coat to reveal a golden envelope, thick and stamped shut with a wax seal. 

_ Elan Malik, The Survivor. _

>>><<<

Location: A Warehouse in The Middle of Town

Everybody who lived there knew that the warehouse on 7th avenue was off-limits. It was a pretty well-known fact among the locals about the living situation of Nadine Williams.

It was only shortly after Adriana had been taken away, shortly after everything in hell had gone to hell. Just a week or so afterwards, her parents forbid her from hanging out with the others, claiming that they “never liked those delinquents in the first place.” Nadine had pushed back as much as she could but to no avail.

The next month went by horribly slow, she wasn’t even able to speak to Kani at school, the older girl had shrunk in on herself and seemed to turn a cold shoulder to the world. Nadine gave her the space she needed, but didn’t consider the loneliness it left her with.

Unsure of what to do, she stayed hauled up in her room for as long as she could. She studied, ate and slept all in the same place and hadn’t seen a person outside from school in ages. Graduation rolled around and she hardly knew Kani anymore.

By the time she graduated, her parents had already been pushing her to go to college. Nadine wasn’t sure what she wanted with herself yet which is why she refused and got herself in a screaming match with her parents. Somewhere in that fiasco, she had mistakenly come out and that resulted in her being kicked to the curb by her own family.

The warehouse on 7th was a nice building and no windows had been broken, unlike the others. It was still dirty and had rust on the gates outside but there wasn’t much she could be picky about when she didn’t have anywhere else to go.

Her original plan was to stay there for a few nights, but nights turned into weeks and weeks to months and before she knew what hit her, she was the sole resident of the warehouse. The local shop owners often left food on her doorstep, They even let her work a little bit on the weekends. 

She was grateful for those local souls, and they had offered her a hand when she needed it most. Being homeless wasn’t like she had seen in the movies. She used the community showers at a local gym that was open to the public, it served as a laundromat as well. The locals gave her food and she had worked to afford enough money for some clothes and essentials. 

Otherwise, the only really hard part was her living situation. She knew she was one of the lucky ones. 

It was routine every morning. She woke up when the sunlight began to flow through the upper windows, surrounded by the tweed of her winter blanket. Then, she would go outside and make her rounds, visiting the shop clerks she was familiar with and sitting a view blocks down with a sign and a cup. 

These days weren’t her best. Nadine lifted herself off the concrete, scratching at her grease-filled hair. It had been a few days since she’d had time to get down to the showers. She hadn’t seen a mirror in a week but she could practically  _ feel  _ the dark circles under her eyes worsening.

She had a bad feeling recently and she wasn’t sure why. She dusted off her pants and folded her blankets, tucking them away in the corner and moving to change clothes. The warehouse was very large and it wasn’t like anyone else was going to stay in it, but Nadine kept to her cozy corner. 

Just as she pulled a shirt over her head, there was a knock at the door.  _ Must be the mail.  _ Nadine thought while shuffling over to the heavy door. The sunlight stung her eyes at first, and she blinked rapidly to adjust. On her front doorstep, there was a golden envelope. This was what she had felt, this was the bad feeling.

_ Nadine Williams, The Silencer. _

>>><<<

Location: Center of Winston

A steady stream of icy air entered through the open door and engulfed the room. A woman sat at her desk, pen in hand and staring at the work in front of her.

The room was silent save for the sound of stamping. Red wax sealed the golden envelopes one by one as she placed them in a neat stack beside her. Six of them sat before her, each marked with calligraphic handwriting and an unrecognizable signature.

This was her one and final shot and she was going to take it.

+++

_ Aftermath _

A dojo. 

That’s where the map inside the golden envelope encrusted in mystery had led her. Adriana supposed it could have been worse, could have led to some sort of remote backwoods location she would never be able to find her way out of. Instead, the building was located right in the middle of the city, amongst the bustling traffic and incoherent yelling of Winston drivers.

It was a nice building, two stories high and appeared to have lots of square-footage. The outside was clean and inviting, decorated with flower pots and signs on the door for different events. 

Adriana still wasn’t sure who had summoned her here. The signature on the short and discreet letter had been familiar but not easy to decipher, she almost considered not even showing up. However, it was in the middle of the city and it was broad daylight, plus she hadn’t spent all that time behind bars without learning a thing or two about self-defense, so she ultimately decided no harm could come from it.

The floors inside were made of light brown wood and were polished to a shine. It smelled of lemon grass and peppermint, both smells overwhelming the moment she walked through the door. The lights were very dim and she had to squint to see the main floor. Blue mats stretched from wall to wall. She didn’t bother to question the stains they had collected.

In the center of the first floor, there was a giant boxing ring, complete with a pull-down microphone and boxing gloves hanging up on the sides. Maybe she should take up boxing, it wasn’t like she had many hobbies anyway. 

Adriana stares curiously at the gloves, wondering if they were custom made or one-size-fits-all types. Surely it wasn’t that difficult to learn how to box, not win all the time she would have to commit to it. 

There was the sound of heels clicking that interrupted the pleasant silence and Adriana froze in anxiety. A short figure call around the side of the ring, shoulder-length blonde hair caught beneath the leather of the figures jacket. Adriana craned her neck to get a better look at the approaching silhouette and her jaw dropped in shock when her brain registered the familiar face.

“Michelle?” She whispered, the name ghosting on her lips. The blonde glanced up, black eyes boring into Adriana’s face. That was new. The hard gaze softened immensely when they took in Adriana’s appearance and a moment later, Adriana was enveloped in a bone-crushing hug. 

“Oh my god,” Michelle breathed right into Adriana’s ear. Her voice was different, mature and deep. Her hair tickled the side of Adriana’s face and she smiled, missing the feeling. Michelle pulled away, gripping her biceps.

“I knew you got out today but I didn’t think I’d see you around at all, this is crazy.” Michelle exclaimed while analyzing Adriana’s face, “You grew into your cheeks and everything! God, it feels like I’ve just missed so much.” She seemed to talk a lot more now than before. Adriana felt a laugh bubble from her throat. 

“I never thought I would see you again honestly.” Adriana muttered while the younger hands pressed to the sides of her face. She couldn’t help but chuckle at Michelle’s enthusiasm. Suddenly, the girl who had come in the door, cold exterior and board shoulders, had faded. Now, the face in front of her was recognizable, small doe eyes and comforting smile. She looked almost childish. 

“Your hair,” Adriana lifted a hand to the neatly combed locks, “never pegged you as a blonde.” Michelle’s smile widened, temporarily removing her hands to move her hair around.

“You like it?” She asked with a soft smile and her right hand buried in the blond tresses. 

“I do. I really like it.”

Michelle paused. Black eyes cascaded over Adriana’s figure, watchful and analytic. She opened her mouth, and then closed it again. 

Adriana felt a sight course through her body. Here it came. The question she hadn’t wanted to answer, the subject she hadn’t wanted to talk about. Adriana’s stomach clenched as Michelle’s gaze seemed to rake over her body.

But as it sent from an angel above, the front door swung open and startled both girls. As if this day couldn’t have gotten any weirder, the duo found themselves staring at a scrunched-up face they never thought they’d see again.

“What the fuck,” Luca had said when she stepped over the threshold. A surprised chuckle exploded from Michelle. On the other hand, Adriana couldn’t stop the smile that overtook her face. As if they had previously discussed it, the pair ran at the girl, wrapping her in a hug as well.

“Jesus, fuck, okay.” Luca’s words were harsh but her tone was soft as ever. She struggled for a minute before settling down and allowing herself to be sandwiched in between the two older girls. 

“Oh my god,” 

“I haven’t seen you in forever,”

“How have you been?”

“Wow, your hair!”

“Did everyone in this town have a meltdown and dye their hair?”

“Okay, that’s enough.” Luca shrugged them both off, having to duck under Michelle’s bicep avoid being recaptured. However, when she turned around, she too sported a glowing smile. Her eyes deleted over Adriana and an unknown emotion passed through them hurriedly. 

Before they could even have their reunion properly, the back door busted open as well. A head of pink curls toppled through the door, led by the silhouette of remarkable speed. The two were laughing as they flew in, arms interlocked falling all over each other. Adriana recognized these two in an instant.

“Sonia? Nadine?” Her voice felt small again. Her friends raised their heads at her voice, their expressions still joyful and not at all surprised. Adriana’s heart hurt seeing how naturally and quickly they reacted as if nothing had changed from seven years ago.

The shock settled in for both of them only moments later, and they both fixed the three of them with a stare. Nadine crept forward, passionate eyes blown absolutely wide. Sonia just looked like she could break out into tears at any moment. 

They were frozen. All five of them.

Sonia was the first to act, targeting Michelle and walking up to wrap her arms around her. Michelle gratefully returned it. It seemed to break Nadine out of her trance, because she immediately latched onto Luca and Adriana, one arm around both of their shoulders. To her left, she could hear sniffling from the youngest girl. 

“I can't believe you’re here.” Nadine sobbed, burying her head deeper into Adriana’s neck. She chuckled and rubbed her back as a soothing gesture. When she looked over, Sonia and Michelle weren’t hugging anymore but still had their arms wrapped around each other, Sonia’s head resting on Michelle’s. 

“Wow,” a voice said from behind them, “this feels like old times.”

The group turned towards the door, each member locking eyes with the new arrival. Over the years, they had each changed a good bit. Michelle’s voice was deeper, Adriana was more muscular, Luca had gained weight and looked actually healthy, Sonia had grown an inch or two, Nadine had sharper features. However none of them had changed as much as Elan had.

Her once chin-length dark brown hair now reached her mid-back, dyed a sandy brown hue. Dark brown eyes that were so timid and full of fear held a new fire to them and her gaze held power when she fixed it on them. She was skinnier, but way stronger and her once hunched back shoulders were now pushed back and she stood taller than she ever had before.

The group was mesmerized by her, afraid they were imagining the girl in front of them. Elan smiled.

“What? I don’t get a hug?” Her voice was different too, not necessarily deeper but she spoke louder and with confidence. Just in her voice alone, they could tell she was not the same girl she was all those years ago. Even still, they embraced her wholly, swallowing her up in the group. 

Elan giggled and tried to wrap her arms around every one of them. There was a moment that almost seemed to go by in slow motion, a moment where she locked eyes with the one girl she had been thinking about for seven years. Luca’s eyes were clouded and her body moved on its own accord. 

The second they were in each other’s embrace, the tears started to fall. Luca clung for dear life, careful not to leave bruises on the younger’s sides. Elan, on the other hand, was gripping Luca’s shoulders with so much force, Luca would afraid she’d have to explain fingernail imprints soon.

As soon as the two parted, chaos erupted. Everyone began talking at once, asking every question they could think of and learning more and more about who they’d each become. It was a nice moment, a moment that had them giggling like they were still 17-year-olds hiding from their responsibilities in a courtyard behind an accounting building.

The chatter carried on for a few more minutes, still a buzz of neverending stories until a voice of reason silenced them. 

“Wait,” Nadine exclaimed, “What are you all...doing here?” The girls shared a look. Michelle was the first to act. Reaching into her jacket pocket, she pulled out the golden envelope she had found in her storage unit and waved it around.

One-by-one, each girl pulled theirs out, all presenting them to each other. 

“What the hell.” Leave it to Luca to voice everybody’s thoughts.

“Guys,” Adriana studied the envelopes, “where is Kani?” 

“I’ve been here the whole time, doll.” 

This time, they all spun around simultaneously. There she was, the girl in question, up in the boxing ring, a black hoodie pulled over a sports bra and spandex shorts. Her light brown hair was cut down to her shoulders and her body was definitely more filled out than it had been previously. Adriana caught a glimpse of Michelle’s face, a face she had seen with her own two eyes melt, now turned back to stone.

Kani pulled a golden envelope from her jacket as well, threading the thing through her fingers easily. She turned it outwards for the other girls to read the back of it.

_ Kani Wyatt, The Fighter. _

Kani tucked the material back into her jacket, leaning against the ropes and beaming down at the group. The relieved atmosphere was gone now, now they just wanted to know how and why they were brought here. It was Sonia who voiced this concern.

Kani grinned like a cat. 

“What’s wrong with a little reunion? Maybe I just wanted to see my favorite girls again.” She seemed to float around the ring, her hands wrapping around the rope with ease. 

“You never just want to see us. Spit it out. What do you want?” Adriana had never heard Michelle’s words be so hostile. Looking at her from the side, Michelle’s small stature didn't seem to hinder her at all. Her lips were drawn in a thin line and her eyes drilled holes into Kani’s skull. The latter didn’t seem to mind.

“You always did want to skip to the good part.” Kani muttered, fingers ghosting over the threaded rope once more. Michelle didn’t seem amused by her comment. “Okay, I’ll bite.”

“Seven years ago, as you all know, we began a task. We were successful in every area except one and therefore caused the only downfall. I brought you here because to be frank with you, I want to finish what I started. And I can't do it alone.”

Every body in the place was still. Nadine’s face was contorted in pain, mirroring Luca’s. The silence was overbearing and Adriana would give a million to see what she looked like in that moment.

“What the fuck are you taking about?” Michelle’s raspy voice sliced through the quiet. Her hostility only seemed to egg Kani on, the grin turning more and more amused with each second that passed.

“You’re all aware of what I’m talking about.” 

In that moment, Michelle went absolutely and completely rigid. 

“You brought us back together because you want to form a little crime team? What the fuck is wrong with you, I knew you were fucked up Kani but I never thought you could be this low.” Her voice bounced off the walls in an eerie echo. 

But while every other girl present had flinched at the outburst, Kani remained calm. Like she had expected it.

“Look. The past seven years weren’t easy, but we all made it. But have you ever noticed how things happen that almost seem unnatural? Things that could’ve caused our death if we weren’t careful enough to avoid them.” Kani was tangled in the ropes now, comfortably sitting with the thread wrapped around her legs. 

“That’s called living your life, plenty of things could cause our death every day. That doesn’t mean anything special.” Michelle bit back. Adriana could hear she was holding her tongue. Michelle had never looked so angry in entire time Adriana knew her. 

“There isn’t anything special about it, but there’s something special about you, about us. We’re different, we weren’t normal from the start.” Kani drawled.

“What are you saying?” Elan spoke this time, fixing Kani with a gaze so intense, Adriana had to turn away from it and it wasn’t even directed at her. She watched Kani inhale deeply, appearing to be annoyed with the question.

“If there’s any chance we get caught, which there isn’t but for hypothetical sake, I’ll take the blame. I promise that. I have a plan in mind, it’s a big plan that can change everything, but I need all six of you to do it.” 

“What kind of plan?” It was Nadine now.

“Life-altering. It’s going to fix all of our problems, make them all go away.” Kani was now untangled, twisting her body in a strange way to stand up. 

“If you brought us here to smoke weed…” Luca murmured under her breath.

“I brought you all here because we are gonna pull of the Winston Serial Heist.” Kani explained with a beaming smile on her face. None of them could figure out what to do or say. None of them except for Michelle.

“You’re sick in the fucking head. Adriana  _ just  _ got out of prison for something you made her do—“

“Michelle.” Adriana warned, but the younger continued.

“—It’s your fucking fault she ended up there in the first place. I’m not doing this, I’m not associating with you after everything you’ve done. You’re a selfish bitch and you always have been.”

“Michelle.” Luca’s voice was a lot more assertive than Adriana’s. Regardless of the warnings, Michelle pushed on.

“You’re a devil in disguise, a poison.” She was fuming. Kani seemed unbothered by her words, matching Michelle’s burning gaze with a bored one.

“You’re lucky, so fucking lucky I haven’t told them what you did.” The words dropped venom, a threat lingered in the air. 

“Just stop! What the hell is the matter with you?” Nadine interrupted, physically placing herself between the two, though there was a considerable amount of distance between them already. 

“Rather convenient of you to forget the reason why I did it. You’ll only remember what you want to, isn't that right, Michelle?” 

Michelle lurched forward with her arms outstretched, but Nadine grabbed her by the waist and pulled her backwards, both of them stumbling a few steps.

There was a struggle and then, Michelle’s body went lax. She threw Nadine’s hands away from her person, white knuckles gripping the sides of her jacket. There was that heavy silence again. A few beats passed.

“You were a fool to bring me here.” Michelle spoke softer now, but the malice was still present in her voice. The blonde shot one last hate-filled glance at the other, and then she turned on her heel, and let the door slam shut behind her.

The tranquility in the room was anything but comforting. Things had taken a turn for the worse in only a few seconds. Cautious eyes met emotionless ones. The remainder of the girls turned to look at Kani.

“What was she talking about? What did you do?” Luca was the one to ask the question they all wanted the answer to. If possible, Kani’s expression grew more distant.

“We had a falling out shortly after...everything.” 

“She made you sound like a monster. What did you do?” Sonia was the one pushing now. She regarded Kani with a wary expression. The brunette’s hands clasped the rope in front of her. She avoided their eyes.

“I betrayed her. I saved her but I had to betray her to do it.” Kani sucked her bottom lip in between her teeth. 

“We’re going to need more information than that—“ Elan started to say, but her sentence was quickly cut off by Sonia.

“It doesn’t matter. Any of it. Whatever happened between you and Michelle, it doesn’t concern us. But as your friend, you’d better fix that shit, quickly. Until you do, I’m out too.” 

She started towards the door, Nadine in tow. There was an unspoken agreement among them, if Sonia was out then so was Nadine. Three of them now stood in front of her, posing a challenge as well.

“Sonia’s right.” Elan admitted, “I'll help you if Michelle does. I’m not doing this without her either.”

“It’s not like I can do it without her anyway.” Kani grumbled, arms folded over her chest. Elan gave a small smile at this.

“Then let me know when you want to start.” 

Kani’s head snapped up, blue eyes surveying Elan. 

“So you’re in?” She asked, hesitant. Elan cracked another smile, wide and affirmative.

“One condition. Actually, two. First, don’t bring our families into this at all, they don’t need that,” She proclaimed, Kani nodding along to every word, “Second, if we’re going to rebel, we have to have a full group.”

Kani very quickly agreed and this time, she was happy to see Elan push the front door open, leaving behind a promise to return. The younger stopped at the door, holding it open for a second.

“Luca?” Elan sang, “you coming?”

Luca was behind her in a flash. 

Seeing them again, running after each other and brushing their shoulders together with purpose, it brought a smile to Adriana’s face. A part of her wanted to go back and relive it, the good and the bad, to just be a kid again. She hadn’t had that opportunity since 7 years ago on November 18th.

“It always seems to boil down to just us.” Kani remarked, carding her hands through her hair. Adriana subconsciously tugged at her shirt hem. It had been way too long since she had even seen Kani, much less spoken to her.

“Yeah…” she sounded awkward, “it seems that way, huh?” Kani snorted.

“I see old habits die hard in this group. You’d think Luca and Elan had seen each other every day for the past seven years with how quickly they picked back up.” Kani finished her observation with a chuckle.

“I hope they do talk about it, though. God, I feel so bad for Elan.” Adriana didn’t know what she would do in the girls case. Sure, she’d spent 7 years behind bars, but Elan had spent 7 years in a straight-jacket and hooked to a machine. At least in Adriana’s situation, there weren’t any wires involved.

“I do too. You know, they still don’t know what happened to her father. There’s no evidence in the case at all. I think the police was assumed it was a dead end.” Kani disclosed.

Adriana shook her head in disbelief.

“They tried to pin it on you at first,” Kani explained, “but they had no evidence so they couldn’t do it. Luca was so out of it in the hospital, she didn’t even realize the police were asking her about Elan’s father and not... the incident. Do you know how fucked that is? I mean, just days after she tried to…”

Adriana nodded and pulled her jacket tighter.

“I had nothing to do with her father. They wouldn’t have anything on me anyway.” Adriana felt the need to specify. She couldn’t tell how people looked at her anymore and now felt the need to explain things that didn’t need explaining. Kani waved her off.

“No, I know you didn’t.” There was a pause. Then, Kani spoke softly.

“I missed you.” 

Adriana grinned at the younger. 

“I missed you too.” But the others face turned sour at the comment.

“You shouldn’t. Not after what happened.” She shuddered. Adriana shook her head, watching the younger’s face contort. 

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“It wasn’t not my fault.”

Adriana glared.

“Don’t blame yourself for something I did. I knew what was going to happen, don’t undermine my knowledge of my actions.” Demanded Adriana.

Kani threw her hands up in mock surrender.

“I won’t. Sorry.” Adriana smiled again, any previous anger gone.

“You should be.” Her tone was teasing, playful. 

This evoked a smile out of Kani, who leaned against the ropes of the ring with a chuckle. Another silent pause. Both girls stared back at one another, analyzing the differences in each other. Other than her hair and muscles, Kani hadn’t changed much. She had already been mature by the time she had reached 17 and Adriana could piece together that it was probably from all the shit she went through early on.

The conversation halted altogether, both girls caught in a swarm of their own thoughts. To Kani, Adriana was massively different. Once a scrawny and fragile girl, Adriana now held an incredible amount of muscle in her biceps and her jawline and overall facial features stood out more. Brown hair was cut down to her breasts and her observance all the more intense.

It would be Adriana who broke the quiet.

“Michelle was...really mad.”

Kani sighed, pulling her jacket tighter around her body and stuffing her hands in her pockets. Michelle was a touchy subject.

“She thinks I did something much worse than what I did. I don’t want to talk about it. Though it seems I’m going to have to make up with her someway if I want the group back together again.” The younger slumped over the ropes. Adriana grinned.

“Just see if you can come to a truce. Have long as it been since you’ve last spoken?” Adriana questioned gently. Kani looked stressed at the question.

“About six years.” 

“Jesus.”

“Yeah.”

Adriana raked her brain, trying to think of  _ something  _ to make the two girls speak. Despite multiple solutions appearing in her brain, she couldn’t seem to find anything that would work for them. 

“I’ll figure something out,” Kani agreed, “don’t worry about it. As for you, you with the others or what?”

There was another question Adriana had been trying to avoid. Kani had always been a rebel, a thief but she usually had reason behind it. Her plan wasn’t even completely mapped out yet it was already taking higher roads than anything Adriana had been apart of. It oddly enough felt like when Kani proposed the bank robbery.

Another one of Kani’s brilliant ideas had landed Adriana behind bars for seven years, though she could hardly blame it on Kani or Luca. Was Kani really confident about this plan? Was she ready to risk it all? Adriana wasn’t sure if she was ready to go back to prison.

She was faced with a dilemma and expectant eyes staring back at her. She froze. Her brain weighed through the good and the bad, unsure of what conclusion she would come to. Eventually, it occurred to her that she could pull out any time she wanted. She didn’t hesitate in answering.

“If I agree, I’m gonna pull out if I begin to feel uncomfortable. At any time.” Adriana stressed. Kani’s cat-like smile was back.

“Of course.” She affirmed, hands gripping at the rope. Adriana took a deep breath before speaking.

“I’m in.”

+++

_ The Arrangement. _

Michelle leaned against the brick wall right outside the dojo, allowing her bag to slam down on the concrete beside her. As much as she wanted to storm off and never have to see that degenerate’s face again, she knew it wouldn’t be the case for the others. 

Things between the two of them hadn't been smooth since Adriana’s arrest and quite frankly, Michelle blamed the entire thing on Kani. She didn’t at first, but after finding out the girls secret, Michelle blamed her for a lot of mishaps that seemed to occur.

Of course, she herself couldn’t push back on Kani too much at the time, her own sin still following her like a ghost. She worried a lot in those days, about whether Kani had known about what she’d done. What  _ they’d _ done. Michelle found herself digging her heels deeper into the brick. 

A few minutes passed before the front door to the dojo opened, Elan and Luca walking out together. Michelle forced a smile when they spotted her and prepared herself to make up an excuse for her behavior. However, neither of the girls pressed the matter.

“You should text us when you’re free for lunch sometime. I’d love to catch up.” Elan suggested over Luca’s shoulder. Luca nodded her head in agreement, seemingly too invested in the girl in front of her to really pay attention to the conversation.

“I will. Do you still use your old phone number?” Michelle probed as she slid her phone from her back pocket. Elan shook her head.

“I don’t have a phone but you can text Luca, I'll get the message too.” Elan wrapped an arm around the aforementioned girl’s shoulders. Luca grinned and nodded again. 

The two bid their goodbyes, hailing a taxi and climbing in side-by-side. Michelle smiled, the image bringing back fond memories of a time in her life when she was confused yet happy. She had to remind herself too often that those days were over.

A few more minutes passed and Michelle leaned against the wall again, fingers dancing against the leather of her jacket. In a few more minutes, Adriana strutted out. She caught Michelle’s eye almost instantly.

“What did she say?” Michelle jumped straight to the point, condensing smile on her face. Adriana raised an eyebrow at her. 

“We didn’t talk about you. The others only agreed to come back if you did.” Adriana informed her. Michelle laughed, coldly.

“I refuse to be near that devil ever again.” Michelle snapped. She could feel her fists clutching beside her thighs. Adriana could sense it too.

“That’s up to you guys.” The older replied. Adriana wanted to ask, wanted to pry in the situation but ultimately decided against it. It would be of no use anyway, she hadn’t been in the picture for seven years now.

Michelle shook her head, lips pursed and eyes furious. There was something on her mind, something haunting her but again, Adriana didn’t have any business asking.

“She’s not the girl you used to know, Adri,” Michelle mumbled without making eye contact, “she’s not who we thought she was.” 

Adriana just gaped at her. She wasn’t sure what to make of the girl in front of her. Maybe none of them were the girls she used to know, maybe they all had dirty secrets. Michelle didn’t seem to be the girl she’d known.

“Change isn’t always bad.” She spoke softly, afraid of angering her. Michelle shook her head again, blonde hair caressing her flushed cheeks. She looked younger, timid. She looked innocent.

“It isn’t always good either.” Michelle trembled.

Unsure of what to say, Adriana stood still, brown eyes observing. Michelle didn’t meet her eye, turning away and throwing the strap of her bag over her right shoulder. She walked down the street completely opposite to the way she entered the dojo, head down and hunched back.

Adriana would never be sure how long she watched the other walk away, how long she stood there wondering what in the hell had happened in Winston while she was gone. She could only remember the thought that ran on her mind.

_ Something is not right. _

>>><<<

Adriana could not figure it out.

From an outsiders view, her house hadn’t changed much at all. The lawn was decorated with rose bushes and an assortment of potted flowers, the old tire swing she had grew up on still hung from the tree, the left side railing to the wooden porch stairs still hadn’t been fixed from when she’d fallen over it when she was six.

But something was off. Maybe the shutters? No, they still were painted the same grimy turquoise. Maybe the front door? Nope, still cherry red. Her Mama still had the car parked in the driveway, never in the garage and her bedroom window was still draped with yellow curtains.

Then what was the issue? Everything looked the same, nothing had been replaced. Even the inside of the house hadn’t changed since she’d been dragged from the dining room that evening, except for the burn mark on the table and the faint smell of gasoline when she walked in there.

Maybe she was just imagining things, maybe she had gone insane behind the bars. 

She tugged her coat tighter to her body, climbing the stairs cautiously to the front door. No telling when those things would collapse. The paint of the door was chipped and a little sliver of white could be seen up close. Yeah, maybe this detail was the off-putting thing.

Inside was much warmer than the outside. Winston didn’t submit to seasons like autumn or spring, it was either disgracefully hot or unbearably cold, there was no in between. December tended to be the coldest month they would endure, temperature wise it didn’t come close to being the coldest, but the sudden change often left most of the city tripping into their closets for their coats.

Her mother was nowhere in sight and Adriana figured she most have gone to see the neighbors. Being back in the house didn’t feel real, she assumed it would take some time to get used to. 

There was a small commotion coming from down the hall and with a newfound bravery, Adriana didn’t hesitate to follow the noise. She reached her bedroom door where she heard grunting and shuffling behind it. The door opened slowly and revealed her mother, shoving items in a box.

Adriana’s personal items.

“Oh good. You’re home. You can help me pack.” Her mother's voice was horridly calm as she tossed everything from journals to academic achievements in the box. 

“Mama, what is all this?” Adriana hung by the door, unsure of how to react to her mother throwing her clothing into the box. Her mother’s movement slowed and she turned from her task with a furious expression.

“Did you really think I was going to allow a criminal to stay in my home?”

Adriana’s heart hit the floor. Those words felt that she had been slapped right across the cheek. Her mother thought her a criminal, her own mother. 

“After what you’ve done, the pain you’ve caused this family, you were lucky I even picked you from the gates.” Her mother spit and shoved the box into her hands.

Adriana stumbled, gripping the wall to remain upright. Her chest hurt. Her head did too. No, everything hurt with words like those. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes, but crying wouldn’t fix this. After seven years, what would? 

Adriana wasn’t able to do much more other than clutch the box stagger through the front door, her knees wobbling and threatening to leave her on her ass any minute.

Where else could she go? Her mind drew a blank. It had only been a few hours since she’d been released, not even a day and she was already in bad condition. Where did people go from here? How did they survive? Adriana never imagined herself in the position of a beggar on the street.

Her feet seemed to be taking her somewhere, she wasn’t sure of where, until she found herself on a familiar side of the city. The box was heavy now that she had carried it several blocks and it strained her arms as she stood in front of the small opening between the buildings.

The fit was tighter than she remembered, especially with a box in the way, but she made it through, the sight of the courtyard a comforting view.

The picnic table would definitely bust if anybody sat on it now and faint traces of blue and pink still remained on the sidewalk, stains more than shapes due to the rain. The basketball was deflated and the goal had obviously had a tough couple of years. Still, it felt like more of a home than her house had been.

She sat the box against the fence, her head now pounding from all the action. Nothing seemed simple anymore, there was no easy solution or way to weasel out of this.

Adriana was, completely and utterly, fucked.

>>><<<

Michelle wasn’t sure how she got here, here being behind the convenience store across from their old hangout, but she had nonetheless and had bought a bag of off-brand potato chips while doing it.

Why was she sitting here? Did the situation stress her out that badly? She’d gone six years, six years pretending she didn’t know, pretending she hadn’t known about what Kani was up to, what would come of all of them. She’d spent so much time trying to forget.

How had Kani Wyatt implanted herself back into Michelle’s life? No. No, Michelle was not going to allow that rat and her all her tricks into making her forget. Not now and not ever. She bit down angrily on a chip, snapping it into pieces.

“Careful now, might miss and get your tongue. Wouldn’t that be embarrassing.” Speak of the motherfucking devil.

“Whatever you have to say to me, I’m not interested.” Michelle growled, shoving another chip into her mouth. Kani chuckled, and Michelle could see her leaning against the side of the building, a smile on her face. Fucking asshole.

“That was quite a fit you threw back there. And here I thought we could get along for five seconds.” Kani sounded annoyed.  _ Good _ . Michelle thought.

“I refuse to “get along” with someone like you. I meant every word of what I said and if you had more than an ounce of common sense, you’d leave me the fuck alone.” 

Kani sighed, loud and dramatic as hell. It infuriated Michelle, who decided shoving a few more chips in her face was a good way to release her frustration.

“I don’t know what you want me to do. I didn’t ask for this either.” The younger’s voice was solemn. For a moment, Michelle felt a ping of something for her, but it soon faded. She did not feel sympathy for Kani.

“You are not the victim. I don’t care that you don’t want to do it, you still are! You’re still a selfish bitch for everything you’re doing. Don’t think I don’t realize what this little plan of yours actually is. You think this ploy will stand? You don’t have the brains to pull it off!”

Despite the yelling, Kani didn’t flinch, didn’t react one bit. She had a habit of that, going stoic when her real emotions were dangerous.

“I’m doing what I can to try and know these girls better, try to make up for what’s gonna happen.” The brunette groaned, her head falling against the bricks.

“What makes you think they’ll want anything to do with you when they know.” 

A majorly uncomfortable silence stretched between them. It was deafening.

“I want to tell them before. I can't do that if they won’t even agree to know me, agree to form their own opinion about it.” Kani agonized.

Michelle snapped her head up, eyes locking with Kani’s. Well, that she had not expected.

“You plan to rat yourself out? That doesn’t make any sense.” Michelle barked at her, throwing the now empty bag into her purse. Kani chewed on her lip.

“I can’t standby forever. I have a plan, Michelle, but I need them to help me with this first. I need your help.” Kani was pleading. It was the first time in years Michelle had really seen Kani upset. The younger was always so composed and emotionless. Michelle’s answer shocked them both.

“I’ll do it.”

Kani’s eyes went wide. Michelle’s did too. Was she actually doing this?

“You will?”

Yes, she was. Michelle stood, her legs numb from sitting beneath her but she righted herself effectively. 

“Yes. But whatever plan you have, whatever you’re mousy little brain is brewing, you’d better make this easier for them. Or you’ll pay.”

Michelle strutted off, the sound of heels fading in the distance and leaving behind a stunned Kani, who couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. 

Irony was a ridiculously funny thing.

>>><<<

The next day, each girl was none too surprised to find the others there. They’d chattered like yesterday, never once bringing up the subject of Kani and Michelle. The latter fit into the conversation nicely, keeping the attention away from their scene.

All conversation halted when footsteps sounded from the boxing ring. The girls peered up at the giant square, each waiting for Kani to come into view. Her hair was up today, a high ponytail and sweat dripping off her face in pools. She had red boxing gloves on her hands.

She skipped over greetings, jumping straight to the point.

“You all agreed you’d help me if Michelle did.” Kani urged, throwing a look at a waiting Michelle, “Well?” 

The group all turned towards the woman in question. She took a deep breath, running a hand through her matted hair. She smirked, black eyes settling her gaze on Kani. The little shit had the audacity to smile.

“Let’s fucking do it.”

+++

_ The Revival. _

With Michelle on board, it didn’t take much convincing to coax the others in. Sonia and Nadine has easily agreed after Michelle’s declaration, Adriana smiling and immediately nodding her yes. Elan was a little hesitant but once Luca agreed, she was a definite as well.

“It’s going to take some training and some planning but I think if we get it done quickly, we can tackle the first obstacle by Saturday.” Kani quipped, hands clasped together and satisfied.

Michelle rolled her eyes as Elan exclaimed, “Saturday? That only gives us a few days. Do you really think we can start by Saturday?” 

Kani surveyed the girls, eyes fleeting over each one of them individually. She lingered on Elan just a little long. 

“We’d better get started.” 

>>><<<

“Jesus, fuck!”

The words echoed off the walls as Elan’s body hit the floor. She gasped for breath, slamming her palms into the mat. Kani stood over her, adjusting her fingerless gloves and popping her neck.

“Again.” She commanded, pulling Elan up by the arm. 

It had been the fourth time Elan hit the ground, just as she was starting to get the hang out it, Kani outsmarted her. 

She swung left again, Kani ducking under her arm and bringing her left leg up to smash into Elan’s side. The older of the two went hurling into the ground again.

“Quicker.” Kani picked her up off the floor again. Elan breathed deeply, flexing her fingers and this time, swinging with both hands in opposite directions. Kani ducked once again and swept her right foot towards Elan’s ankles. Somehow, the latter had expected it, instinctively jumping and dodging the sweep. 

Kani went for a lower cut on the left, Elan dodging it effectively. An uppercut on the right dodged as well. Finally, Kani raised her left leg to Elan’s side, the shorter girl now prepared for it and throwing it back down. Seizing the opportunity, Elan threw a left punch, hitting Kani in the cheek. She froze.

Kani raised her hand to her cheek, flexing her jaw and Elan worried that she had angered her. However, Kani broke out into a grin. 

“Better. Nice blocks by the way. You’re improving.” 

Elan smiled, resting her hands on her knees. Kani reared her shoulders back, rolling them out and clapping more chalk on her gloves.

“Again.”

>>><<<

It was the same routine everyday for the next three days. Kani sparred with each one of the girls, usually kicking their asses two or three times before they caught on.

“How did you learn this shit?” Michelle asked as she heaved on the floor just fifteen minutes in. Kani beamed. 

“I teach boxing and jiu jitsu on the weekdays. Weekends, I host a fight club of sorts down in the basement. Doesn’t do me much good but I make enough cash to keep the place running.” She replied, before crouching down to Michelle’s current level. “And now, I teach hand-to-hand combat to petty criminals.”

She took them to the shooting range on Thursday, handing them different types of firearms. Adriana proved to be the best at it, hitting the bullseye more than once with many different weapons. The others weren’t bad either after Kani taught them the basics and the brunette didn’t have any doubt that they could pull off this mission.

The night before it all went down, they stood around a table in Kani’s office. 

“It’s not very complicated. I have us all on the guest list under aliases. We'll take two vehicles. Adriana, Sonia and Elan will take one, you’ll arrive at the front of the event and check-in, you shouldn’t have any problems but if you do then just contact Luca and she’ll fix it. I’ll go with Michelle, Luca and Nadine in the van, there’s a parking garage about half a block from the venue, it should be close enough for us to get out quickly.”

“Luca and Nadine, you’ll stay in the van and monitor security cameras and be on standby for when we reach the computer. Michelle and I will enter through the backdoor. Sonia, you’ll pose as a distraction for the east wing guards, Michelle will cause chaos in the kitchen and lead Mr. Schnipper away from the scene of the party. Adriana, you’re going to create a scene that draws the attention of the northern and southern wing guards, Elan will help you. I’m going to sneak upstairs and disarm the guards to get into Schnipper’s office.”

“How are we getting out?” Michelle interrupted, “and how will we know when we’re in the clear or if something goes wrong?”

“The west wing is still being renovated, they’ll have it closed off on the ground floor but there’s a staircase on the second floor that’s sturdy enough for me to get back down without being seen. I’ll exit that way, the rest of you can just walk right out and to the garage, your driver and the van will be waiting and we can exit undetected. We’ll be wearing comms units in our earrings.”

Kani threw out 7 packages of unique earrings on the table. Each girl grabbed one, inspecting it and turning them over in their hands. Kani pointed to the kitchen door on the blueprint map she had laid out on the table. 

“If anything, and I mean anything, goes wrong, the kitchen emergency exit is right by the door. When I say run, I mean it.”

The girls nodded, their eyes hesitant but determined. Kani looked up, meeting eyes with Adriana across the table. 

“I’m counting on you to cover my ass. You think you’re up for it?” Adriana nodded.

“Then let's do it.” 

>>><<<

Nerves.

It was all Luca was feeling as she fidgeted, her hands shook with excitement? She couldn’t tell anymore. All she knew was her entire body was vibrating in place, her motions rigid and uncalculated. 

“Calm down, you’re gonna break a sweat.” Elan teased while loosening the strap on her dress. They were all in their attire for the evening, formal dresses with their hair styled. Luca had never felt so uncomfortable. 

“Sorry Ellie. I’m nervous.” Luca said in a level tone. Elan chuckled and squeezed her shoulder.

“You’ll do great.” 

“I sure hope so.”

Kani entered the room, her red dress brushing the floor as she clipped her earrings in. Luca didn’t think she’d ever seen Kani so formal. 

“Alright, the drivers here. It’s time.” She yelled. 

A familiar face walked through the door, a tuxedo clad to his body.

“Alex?” Luca gasped.

Alex smiled warmly. He made a boeing gesture to her and Luca rolled her eyes, replying in a cursory. Adriana and Sonia filled out, Sonia’s pink curls being momentarily painted black. Elan gave Luca one final shoulder squeeze before following them and Alex out.

Luca had to remind herself to breathe deeply. 

“That’ll give them a head start. Luca, Nadine, you guys all set up in the van?” Kani was much more authoritative now.

Luca gulped and nodded, Nadine doing the same. Kani gave them a nod before turning to Michelle. 

“You ready?” 

Michelle tsked.

“Born ready.”

Kani couldn’t help but grin at her enthusiasm.

“Then let’s go.”

>>><<<

The venue was ridiculous.

A large house, white pillars and a carpet rolled out for the guests. There were two bouncers at the door with tablets, checking off guest names and ushering them in or away. Elan would be lying to say her heart wasn’t in her throat right then.

“Luca implanted our names in the system. We’ll be alright.” Adriana assured, to herself or to Elan, she wasn’t sure. Elan nodded, pulling at the purple hem of her dress. Adriana led the way, the two girls hanging behind and allowing her.

They were all three sweating bullets.

“Names?” The bouncer asked when they reached him. He was stern, barely even glancing up from the tablet when addressing them. Adriana cleared her throat. Time to get into character.

“Lisbeth Johnson, Carol Winchester and Emma Harris.” Adriana touched the pearls at her neck when she spoke.

The bouncer typed in all their names and the three girls waited anxiously. It seemed like forever had passed before he jammed a finger toward the door. “Go in.”

They all released a collective exhale. 

“Alright, stay cool, don’t talk to anyone unless you have to. Keep in positions.” Adriana whispered, leaning against a table in the center of the room. It was a grand ballroom, high ceilings and gorgeous displays of furniture. There were waiters walking around with champagne and food and a big marble staircase at the back of the room. 

“Kani, how are you guys doing?” Adriana mumbled into her comms. She wasn’t sure whether to touch her ear or not. 

“ _ Doing alright, Adri. We just pulled into the parking deck, on our way now.”  _

Sonia met Adriana’s eye and the brunette gave her the nod. Sonia fixed her eyes forward and clutched her stomach, stumbling over to the east wing guards. Adriana watched from the corner of her eye as Sonia wailed and whined, throwing herself all over both the guards and wobbling back and forth. Both the guards tried to get her to talk to them, but Sonia just continued wailing.

“ _ Approaching the back door now _ .” 

>>><<<

“This is so stupid,” Michelle mutterd while holding Kani up. Kani rolled her eyes, leaning into Michelle as much as she can stand.

“Do you want to get ambushed by the guard?” Kani replied as she dragged her feet. Michelle struggled, repositioning the younger over and over until she felt like dropping her.

“Can’t you walk until we get there?” Michelle pleaded. Her shoulder was killing her. Kani had way too much muscle.

“Have to make it believable.” Kani responded as she lets a little more weight fall on Michelle. The older grumbles and shuffled faster around the corner to where the guard was.

“Help!” Michelle yelled out to the man, “Help! My friend is hurt badly and I don’t know what to do!” Michelle called. Kani’s body had gone completely limp by now.

The guard raised his head, his eyes finding Kani’s seemingly unconscious body and rushing over. 

“What happened?” He asked while attempting to remove her from Michelle’s grip.

“It was just—It was these guys and…”

Kani suddenly slammed her knee into the guards groin, immediately throwing a right hook to his nose and grabbing his neck. She applied pressure and Michelle watched in awe as the guy fell asleep and slumped into a heap on the ground.

Kani ripped off his I.D, sliding it in the card reader and the door made a noise. It was open. They were met with a dark hallway when they stepped in, three doors on both sides and one at the end of the hall. 

They walked silently, reaching the last set of doors where Michelle broke off, heading into the kitchen to start her role. 

“What are you doing?” Kani heard her yell.

“Did you not get the report, headquarters specifically told you Mrs. Johnson is allergic to garlic.” 

Kani couldn’t fight the smile that graced her face as she walked to the end of the hall, ducking out and into the ballroom. She hung by the stairs, watching as Sonia whined and hung over the guards on the east wing. She felt eyes watching her and she looked up to meet Adriana’s. Kani gave her the go-ahead. 

Adriana reached back, breaking off a large piece of shrimp and hiding it in her hand. Then, she was grasping her throat, hunching over and falling to the floor. Elan screamed.

The guards from all wings came running over, each attempting the hymen lic and giving Kani the opportunity to carefully and quietly ascend the stairs, hiding behind a pillar once she made it up. She was aware she would have to be careful.

“Luca, you take care of the cameras yet?”

_ “Already did. Nadine’s working on the password as we speak.” _

Upstairs was a nightmare. There were guards at all five doors, getting by would be impossible. But Kani wasn’t anything if not a quick-thinker.

“Help! My friend is choking down there and the guards said they needed more of you!” The two guards on the end took off running down the stairs, guns in hand. Three still remained and Kani couldn’t find any other way around it.

She walked right up the first guard, reaching forward and hitting a pressure point immediately. The other two pulled their guns, and Kani ducked as the sight set on her. She rolled on the ground, popping up to knock the second guards gun from his hand. 

She seized both his wrists and in a monet of desperation, slammed their heads together, and knocking him out. The third guard had a weapon pulled too, but Kani spun around with the pistol in her hand and aimed right at him. 

The third guard watched as the second man crumbled to the ground. Something flickered across his face and he dropped the weapon. The man raised his hands in surrender and kneeled. Kani chuckled, still aiming her gun.

With one kick to the forehead, the man was down as well and Kani continued on into the office. She didn’t have time to note how nice it was even though it  _ was _ very nice, she rushed to the computer and threw it open.

“Password give it to me.”

“ _ It’s still deciphering but I have most of it. NCYJK1.”  _ Nadine replied.

Kani typed in the sequence.

“The last one? That’s only six.”

“ _ Uh, hold on.”  _ A beat passed. She could hear typing over the comms. “ _ NCYJK1C.” _

The computer opened. Kani silently cheered to herself and removed the flash drive hidden in her shoe. It was silent as she worked, hurriedly going through tens of files to find the one she was looking for.

“ _ Kani, better hurry, the guards will be coming back up soon.” _

Kani hissed, uploading the files onto the flash drive as fast as she could. She could hear footsteps coming up the stairs and she knew she had to get out of there. The footsteps got closer and Kani was close to panicking when the files finished and she grabbed the flash drive and ran.

The west wing stairs were just across the hall and she ducked into the stairway just in time for the guards to freak out. The stairs were hardly sturdy enough for her to run down and they made noise with each step, but she didn’t stop running, not until she reached the ground floor and weaseled her way back into the scene. 

Kani spotted Elan and Adriana near the front of the room, a small crowd still formed around them. Sonia was coming out of the bathroom, pretending to dab a towel across her forehead. Michelle emerged from the kitchen at the same time as well and the three fell into step toward the exit. 

“Stop her!” A voice yelled. Oh shit. The guards from upstairs pointed directly at Kani. But instead of wasting time, she kept her head down, moving towards the door in an almost run. Michelle and Sonia sped up too, Elan and Adriana jumping up to follow. The guards were shoving their way through the crowd, shouting after them.

They broke into a sprint as soon as they hit the concrete, Adriana making a break for Alex’s car with Elan and Sonia. Michelle and Kani kept their heads down, stumbling across the street behind cars. The guards continued to shout and tail them, screaming the words “Thieves! Dirty thieves!” after them.

The parking deck came into sight and there was a silent agreement to throw caution to the wind and just  _ go.  _ Their legs burned from the shoes they wore and the speed they ran, but they didn’t stop. There was a loud noise and a sharp  _ ping.  _ In the next second, Michelle was down. 

Kani threw a glance back at the other, coming to a halt when blood began coating the others dress. A wound near the femur. Kani panicked.

“Shit!” She yelled, pulling Michelle up, the latter hissed and clutched her shoulder with a death grip. She looked dazed, unaware of what had just happened. But they didn’t have time to stop, the guards were still hot on their trail and Kani had no other choice than to lift Michelle and run. 

She wasn’t sure how fast she’d gone or when she’d lost a shoe but none of that mattered. Michelle was getting heavier the longer she ran, her arms almost giving out multiple times. Bullets bounced off cars and without the van in sight, Kani ducked behind a parked car.

“Fuck!” She hissed as she pulled a gun from a hidden thigh strap. She fired two over the car, not sure if she was firing at someone or at empty space. Michelle had her eyes closed beside her.

“Hey, hey hey hey. Michelle? Chelley? Come on, stay with me.” The younger placed her hands on her face, Michelle’s eyes opening slightly at the change in temperature. She looked so far away. The brunette fired a few more shots before slamming her hand against the car behind her in frustration.

This was definitely not part of the plan.

Tires screeched against the pavement just a few hundred feet away, until a van pulled up beside them and abruptly stopped. The side door flew open and Nadine flew out, grabbing up a fading Michelle and piling into the car. Kani shut the door as she climbed in and the car jolted when Luca hit the gas pedal. 

“The fuck happened?” Luca shouted over the sound of the engine, the tail end of the car sliding to the right as she sped onto the highway. 

“Guards started chasing us, someone fired.” 

Nadine abandoned her laptop as she stripped off her jacket, covering the wound and putting pressure on it. Michelle was still conscious but barely. Luca was all over the road, swerving in and out of cars at over 100 miles per hour. 

“Shit, it’s gonna be okay, Michelle, stay with us.” Nadine whispered. She carded her hands through Michelle’s hair, trying her best to keep her awake. The blonde grunted, feeling very tired.

“Did we get the files?” Michelle asked in a small, choked voice. Kani removed the flash drive from her shoe and presented it. Michelle grinned.

“Hell yeah.” She muttered.

The two girls in the back chuckled, but stopped when they hit a bump in the road, causing Michelle to shriek in pain. They grabbed all the material they could, pressing it to the two wounds.

Michelle stayed awake the rest of the drive back, occasionally almost falling asleep. The van hadn’t even stopped before Nadine and Kani went out, Michelle draped over their shoulders. With their arrival, came the panicked shouts of the other three.

Adriana immediately stepped forward, ordering Nadine and Kani to put Michelle on the table. They obeyed and Adriana inspected the wound. 

“Nothing major looks like it was hit, muscle and skin are the only points and there’s an exit wound. You got lucky, Chelley.” Michelle laughed bitterly.

“Thanks.” She mumbled.

It took some 45 minutes for the bleeding to stop and the bandage to be applied. The remaining five stayed close by the entire time and checked in randomly as Adriana worked. She explained that she’d had some experience in amateur medical care over the past few years. They couldn’t go to a hospital and they didn’t have any other options.

Now, they all gathered in the small office once again, watching as Michelle pried herself off the table with a grimace. She turned to them and watched each of their faces as she struggled to swing her legs over the table.

“So,” her voice was hoarse and tired, “when’s the next mission?”

+++

_ The Weapon _

The room exploded in chaos. 

“Absolutely not.”

“Are you crazy?”

“Michelle, you’re fucking shot.”

The voices all mixed together, each one of them shouting about the same thing. Michelle rolled her eyes and lied back, not bothering to even listen to the bickering. 

“HEY!”

The room fell silent. All eyes turned to Nadine, a sour expression on her face as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

“I think we can all agree, whenever the next mission is, Michelle isn’t going on it.”

Michele opened her mouth to protest.

“Not when you’re hurt like that, don’t even argue.” 

Michelle closed her mouth.

“Kani, whatever is on that flash drive better be worth what just happened.” Nadine’s voice was stern and threatening. It was times like this, it was easy to forget Nadine was the youngest of them. Kani lifted the drive at her request.

“This is a list of every big-name businessman involved in the trade. We can go after them one-by-one. There won’t be many and if we can work fast, we’ll shut it down early.” 

“You said these were heist missions. What exactly is going on, who are we stealing from?” Adriana asked while handing Michelle antibiotics. 

“There’s about five of them. Big names in business and politics. They’re using honest grafting to secure votes from people, it’s bribery. On top of that, they’re digging up information about any opposing companies and using it against them to force them out of the race. If they win the next election, Winston will fall victim to party bosses and political machines.”

“So, we’re vigilantes. We steal from them before they steal from the people?” Elan inclined. 

“Mhm. Schnipper had the list of his associates to keep track, and now we have it. We already hit one of the men on this list. Robert Lynch and his higher ups.” Kani tucked the flash drive back in her pocket. 

“Wait,” Adriana set the medication on the back counter as she connected the dots, “you mean…”

“We didn’t want to include on that part of the plan,” Luca sighed. She was leaning into Elan’s side, the younger had her arm thrown over her shoulder.

“We thought it would scare you too much, so we agreed to tell you at a later date. It’s a later date now.” Kani added sheepishly while rubbing the back of her neck.

Adriana was shocked. She had robbed one of the richest men in their city. Robert Lynch owned Lynch Inc. and was a major electronic manufacturer. And Adriana had robbed him. She had gone to federal prison for robbing him. No wonder the police worked so diligently to find them. 

Sonia didn’t seem to care for this conversation, quickly stepping in and asking a question of her own. 

“So, boss, who’s our next hit?”

Kani smiles at the nickname. She waved them over, moving to sit behind her desktop and the girls followed, even Michelle, who grabbed the table and limped. They all leaned over her shoulder, watching her plug in the flash drive and the document of names pop up. 

_ Kenny Schnipper _

_ Robert Lynch _

_ Casey Harring _

_ Mark Nickels _

_ Jacob Vines _

“Holy fucking shit,” Luca muttered when the names loaded, “you weren’t kidding. Jacob Vines is a fucking household name in mechanics.” 

“Mark Nickels is big too,” Michelle slurred, clearly high as hell on painkillers, “his family built most of the skyscrapers in this city and the neighboring cities.”

“Are you sure we can just walk in and take from these guys?” Nadine squinted at the screen. There was doubt all over her words and voice.

“We just hit Schnipper and we got Lynch years ago.” Kani explained. 

“Yeah but Lynch was a total fail.” It was Luca who pointed this out.

“As far as getting caught, yeah it was. But Adriana burned her share, you blew yours and I invested all mine into this dojo. They were never able to recover any of it and since they tried Adriana as an adult and she had no legal assets as a minor, they weren’t able to recover any of it.” 

Luca thought for a moment, staring at the list of names.

“So, Lynch lost some money, so what? He’s a billionaire.” She sounded exasperated. Kani shook her head, pointing at Lynch’s name.

“Didn’t you see the news the last few years? Lynch is practically broke. He spent his entire inheritance months after coming into it and is now in debt like hell to pay his employees and keep the company. He’s been struggling for years, he’ll file for bankruptcy any day now.” 

It was starting to sink in. 

“That’s why his name is marked off the list.” Sonia whispered more to her than to them, but everyone heard it nonetheless. Kani nodded.

“Can’t do business with someone who doesn’t have one.” She remarked and unplugged the flash drive, dropping it into a drawer and locking it away. 

“How does getting this list effect Schnipper?” Nadine wondered aloud. Kani shoved the drawers key back into her jacket pocket. 

“Schnipper is more or less the leader of the ring. We can’t hit him where it really hurts until we take out the others.” Kani informed as she stood up and led Michelle back to sit on the table. Luca pulled herself onto the back counter, an inquisitive look on her face.

“Won’t he realize what’s happening and try to relocate or protect himself?” She asked while chewing her lips. Kani

leaned against her desk and raised an eyebrow.

“That’s why we have to work quickly.” 

>>><<<

It was close to 2 in the morning when the others decided to head out. Kani, Michelle and Adriana stayed behind, bidding goodbye and staying packed in the office.

“Michelle, there’s a pull out couch in here unless you can make it upstairs. If you can then you can have my bed.” Kani was sitting behind her computer, twirling a pen. Michelle shook her head, glancing at her left thigh.

“I don’t think I can. I’ll sleep in here.” 

Kani nodded, taking a sip of her drink. 

“Adriana, can I talk to you for a second?” She said, and didn’t wait for a reply. Adriana followed her out of the office, only slightly nervous.

“You can stay here tonight,” Kani said, surprising her, “in fact, stay with me until you’re able to find somewhere else.” 

Adriana’s head snapped forward, meeting Kani’s eyes. There wasn’t any emotion in them, just blank as usual.

“How—What?” She stuttered.

“I ran into one of your neighbors earlier today at the store and I asked about you. She told me what your mom did. Look, this isn’t like a pity thing, I want you to stay with me, especially now that I dragged you into this heist bullshit again.” Kani ran her hands through her hair, pulling out the curls that had been put in place earlier. “And I’m sorry for not telling you about Lynch. I didn’t want to scare you.” 

Stunned, Adriana didn’t know what to say. She stared at the other, completely frozen until Kani waved a hand in front of her face. 

“Oh, sorry. Uhm, yes. Thank you so much, I don’t know what to say.” She was afraid she sounded ungrateful but she couldn’t put her thoughts into words. Kani didn’t seem to mind, she also seemed amused.

“I live above the dojo, just head up when you’re tired.” Kani smirked as she said it, going back into the office before Adriana could protest any of it. Her brain was going nuts. One little sentence remained on her mind, she seemed to get stuck on one little detail quite a lot.

“I want you to stay with me.”

She  _ wanted  _ her to stay with her.

>>><<<

“Christ.”  _ Thud _ . 

Nadine was very different from Elan in training. 

Firstly, she knew a little about fighting before the training started and secondly, she was dirty. Nadine fought with her entire body, not just parts and that was a good thing for the most part, but dangerous when she failed to dodge.

She didn’t lose calmly either, her punches becoming more desperate with each time she hit the mat. Kani wasn’t exactly going easy on her. She wasn’t supposed to be.

“Come on, Williams. You got this.” Kani clapped her hands together as Nadine pulled herself back to her feet. She was going to get Kani on the ground. Nadine positioned herself again. 

Kani threw the first punch and Nadine dodged it easily. She threw the second one, Kani blocking it with her arm. It went on like that for a little bit, both blocking and dodging and with no one landing a solid hit. Nadine felt that desperation again. She lunged at Kani’s torso, but the brunette was ready and spun to the side. Nadine hit the ropes and flew backwards, landing on her ass.

She groaned and fell back the rest of the way, Kani falling down beside her. They were both out of breath and Kani laughed.

“I’m making this harder on you than it has to be, but I want you to be the second best fighter we have.” Kani breathed processing to take a drink of her water.

“Why me?” Nadine whined.

“Because I know you’re capable.”

>>><<<

While Kani trained with Nadine and Elan, and Adriana teamed up with Luca and Sonia to trail their next victim, Michelle remained on bedrest. It was incredibly boring and she had called her work to inform them that she would be absent for a few weeks. There weren’t too pleased with that.

But it wasn’t the work that was killing her. It was the machine. The machine that she kept locked away in the storage unit that she wouldn’t be able to work on for days. Maybe if she could convince the girls to bring it here—No. That wouldn’t work, not when she couldn’t even explain what the machine did.

“Why are you brooding in the corner?” Nadine walked up, hair matted to her forehead and water bottle in hand. Kani must have let her take a break.

“I’m not brooding.” Michelle scoffed. Nadine didn’t seem convinced. She stood on the wall next to her as Michelle adjusted her crutch. 

“Yes, you are. What is it?” God, she was pushy. Michelle sighed, knowing that arguing with Nadine would go nowhere.

“I’ve been working on a project. It’s not a big deal really but it’s just something I really want to get done.” 

“What is it?” Nadine was persistent, it was one of the things Michelle liked about her.

“A machine of sorts. I don’t know how it works or what compelled me to build it but listen I know this sounds crazy but it feels important.” She hung her head, afraid of what the other would look like when she heard. But Nadine didn’t laugh, didn’t call her crazy or anything similar. 

“I’ll text Luca and tell her to bring it over. Where is it?”

Michelle looked at Nadine’s face to find her completely serious. 

“Uh...it’s at the storage center on Kelly Drive. Unit 179.” Nadine relayed all the information into a message, hitting send before Michelle could say anything else. 

An hour later, the van pulled up next to the back door. Kani and Nadine both went to help her and that’s how they ended up standing in the back room, wires surrounding their feet with Michelle hobbling about, attempting not to slip.

“I’ve been trying for weeks to figure out the right combination of wires to turn this thing on but I haven’t figured it out yet.” Michelle explained, her crutch almost getting caught in a pair of red ones.

Nadine watched silently, her eyes blown wide from all the chaos. 

“Have you patterned the wires?” Luca piped up, circling the machine with analytical eyes. Michelle groaned and moved over to the side.

“Yes. Nothing works.” 

“Mind if I try?” It was Nadine. There was a determination in her eyes that none of them had ever seen before. Michelle shrugged. 

Nadine stepped over the wires, sliding under the machine like Luca did under cars. She followed the wire colors, seemingly random patterns. Orange, Blue, Red, Purple, Green, Pink, Yellow, Blue, Pink, Red, Orange, Purple, Green, Yellow.

There were plugs under the machine, all different sizes. Unsure of what she was doing, Nadine began moving the wires around, pulling and trying every pattern she could think of. The main problem was the length of the wires. They did nothing to help her. 

She was under there for a long while, around twenty minutes just moving wires around. Michelle had left the room to take her painkillers, Luca was sitting on the table in the corner, Kani hadn’t left her spot and was examining the wires. 

There was a shout from under the contraption and Nadine slid out from under it. 

“Plug it in!” She stumbled back a few steps as Luca reached for the plug and inserted it in the socket. The machine powered up instantly, the small screen filling with different shapes. 

“What the hell?” Michelle was back in the room, limping over to stand beside Nadine. “How?”

Nadine grinned and picked up a wire.

“There’s a pattern but it’s super weird and doesn’t make any sense.”

The machine began making a whirring sound and the four of them stood in awe as it shook.

“What’s it doing?” Luca yelled in amazement.Michelle on the other hand, looked somewhat fearful. 

“I-I don’t know.” She admitted.

The shaking got more violent and through the screen, a voice was heard. It was robotic and glitchy and didn’t form coherent words, but it was a voice. The girls shared a look. 

“Turn it off!” Michelle yelled as a gust of wind began lifting papers off the ground. The wind picked up more and now was circling the room at an insane speed. It was emitting from the machine.

“Nadine, what’s happening?” Luca shouted, ducking to dodge the table being lifted up and tossed across the room. 

“I don’t know! It has a mind of its own!” Nadine pulled on the wires, ripping them out of their sockets. The colored wires were flying all over the room, the machine still deafening loud and shaking. 

A red wire went straight up in the air and flew back down, slicing Kani across the left cheek. 

“Shit!” She screamed, clutching her face. Nadine was tearing at the wires now, bunching them at her feet but nothing seemed to be working. The voice came from the machine again.

“ _ You are the glitch.” _

“What the fuck is that?!” Michelle was struggling to hold herself up. The wires were all at Nadine’s feet now, and she panicked when the machine kept going. 

As soon as the chaos had started, the wind slowed and the machine stopped whirring and shaking. Papers flew back down to the floor and the wires all settled. The three girls looked to Luca, who held the power plug. She dropped it on the floor. 

“What, in the fuck, was that?” 

Before any of them could answer, the door to the back room opened and Adriana ran in, Sonia and Elan at her side.

“Guys! We found Casey Harring, he’s onto us and he’s planning to relocate. Tonight.”

+++

_ Red Deep _

“Alright, is everyone in position?” Kani spoke into the comms. 

There was a chorus of “yes” from each one of the girls. 

“Good. This is more mellow than our last mission, but it’s just as important.”

“Roger that, boss.” Nadine rolled her eyes. She was stationed across town, at a cocktail party where Mark Nickels and Jacob Vines were expected to be attending. She was to watch the two throughout the night, make sure nothing suspicious got back to them.

“Why are we on a stakeout again?” Adriana asked from the passenger's seat of Kani’s Cadillac. Kani switched off her earpiece. 

“Harring’s in that building. He won’t be living until late tonight, but we need to make sure that Sonia and Elan have enough time to raid his office for the codes. And to make sure that no alarms have been tripped.”

“ _ Hey, fuck you dude. I covered my ass this time.”  _ Luca barked from Adriana’s earpiece. Adriana chuckled.

“Luca said she’s got it covered.” She relayed, giggling a little when she heard Luca grumble, “ _ That’s not what I fucking said.” _

“Just being careful.” Kani replied. 

The others went quiet for a bit, and Adriana yawned. It earned a laugh from Kani. 

“You tired or something?” She teased. Adriana shook her head no. A red candy landed in her lap and she looked to the left to see Kani shoving a blue one in her mouth.

“I can't believe you still carry these around.” She remarked, but still happily placed it on her tongue. Cherry. She liked cherry the most. Kani snorted.

“What do you mean? These were like the best part of my childhood.” 

“Oh, sneaking in my window and robbing my neighbors wasn’t thrilling enough for you?” She joked, swiping the candy around her mouth. 

“That  _ was  _ a lot of fun. Honestly, I didn’t even like any of the shit I took from your neighbors, just wanted you to have to hear about my disgraceful attitude in the morning.” Kani mimicked her neighbor, an elderly woman with traditional values, on the last part. 

“Yeah, that part worked out well. I had to hear every single morning about how one day they were gonna snap and call the cops, then it would all be over for us.” Adriana laughed remembering her neighbors face and the wrinkled finger that waved in hers.

“I think that old bat was just homophobic.” That evoked a laugh from Adriana.

“You’re blaming homophobia for her being mad at you for robbing her?” 

“Yes! The fuck was she gonna do with all those rings, I actually had use for them.” Kani protested, throwing her hands in the air.

“Pawning them off so you could buy potato chips was not making use of them.” Adriana countered with a smile.

“Not my fault capitalism makes chips so expensive.” 

“You are not seriously blaming the government for your thievery.” Adriana couldn’t believe the girl next to her.

“Blame the government for everything!” Kani shouted. They both erupted into giggles, almost forgetting what they were there to do. 

“Besides, you’re missing the entire point. I stole to get your attention, therefore it’s partially your fault as well.” Kani was beaming. Adriana mirrored her expression. 

“You already had my attention,” Adriana swallowed before saying the next sentence, “we were best friends.” As much as it hurt to say, it was the truth. They were best friends. Kani’s smile faltered just a bit.

“Yeah,” she paused and there seemed to be something heavy on her mind, Adriana was inclined to ask her about it, but Kani interrupted, “but maybe I didn’t want to be friends.”

“What?” Adriana didn’t understand. Kani didn’t meet her eye.

“I mean,” she wet her lips, “maybe I didn’t want to be  _ just  _ friends.”

Oh.

_ Oh. _

They met eyes now and Adriana’s heart leapt into her throat. There was something in those eyes, in that cold icy oblivion, there was a trace of something Adriana had only seen once before, only ever recognized in Elan and Luca. 

She couldn’t find her voice, couldn’t form words. An eternity passed. Her heart was beating much too fast. Any second, she could wake up. Any second, she could be disappointed all over again.

“What do you want now?” Adriana shook with every word, her entire body was shaking. She saw Kani gulp, saw her contemplate her new move, saw her make a decision.

Kani moved forward, her hand coming up to rest of Adriana’s jaw, the latter frozen in her place. She came closer, until Adriana could feel her breath ghosting her lips. She stopped short, brushing her own lips across hers, a question hanging in the air. 

“Do you trust me?”

Adriana didn’t have to even think about her answer.

She moved forward, closing the gap and connecting their lips. Kani kissed back immediately, lips moving against Adriana’s and they melted into that moment. This was something she never thought she would get to experience. The feeling of Kani’s slightly chapped lips against hers, her hand on her jaw to guide their movements, the feeling of being on cloud 9. 

They broke apart, both their chests rising and falling rapidly. Foreheads pressed together, neither opened their eyes but they didn’t have to. They could feel the others smile. 

“ _ Hey lovebirds, can you stop making sex noises in the earpieces? It’s hard to focus over here.”  _ Luca’s voice cut through their moment, loud enough for both of them to hear. They both broke into soft laughter, Kani’s hand falling from Adriana’s face and wrapping around her hand. 

“ _ Can you all just stop. I can barely hear myself think.”  _ That was Sonia, the tone was enough to know.

_ “You’re not supposed to be able to hear yourself think, dumbass, that’s why it’s called a thought.”  _ Luca again.

“ _ Bold of you of all people to be talking about thots.”  _ Sonia bit back.

Adriana and Kani both giggled, leaning back in their seats, hands intertwined. Kani flipped her comms back on. 

“You’re both lucky I don’t kick your asses when we get back to the dojo.” She threatened, playfully. Adriana didn’t even have the heart to jump in on the bickering in her ear.

“ _ Okay, we got the codes. Luca, you ready?”  _ Elan was running from how out of breath she sounded.

“ _ Of course. 3. 2. 1. Bam! Casey Harring can say goodbye to his bank balance.” _ There were cheers from all around the comms and Adriana grinned wide. 

“ _ Okay, I’m making my leave now.”  _ Nadine informed.

“So are we, great work everybody. We’ll review when we get back to—“

A loud clicking noise interrupted Kani’s speech and then seconds later, the building and home of Casey Harring was engulfed in flames.

+++

_ Hostility _

They seemed to be here a lot, surrounded by their own shouting voices, all morphing together in one incoherent mess. 

“What in the hell is going on?”

“I can't do this, I can’t.” 

“If Kani doesn’t explain what the  _ fuck  _ is going on.”

“Wait, where is Kani?”

“I’m here.” They all froze.

Six pairs of eyes directed to the front door, landing on the silhouette of the boss herself. She shuffled into the light, hand gripping her right shoulder. Kani raised her head, locking eyes with Michelle and then, she removed her hand. Blood. Lots of blood. 

Her eyes rolled back, and she hit the floor.

>>><<<

The last place Kani thought she would end up is on her own office table, Her eyes blinked open, immediately closing again when the light burned her retinas. She groaned and lifted herself off the table, unable to move her right arm at all. Wait, why couldn’t she move her arm?

She glanced at her right side, and her eyes went comically wide. Her entire right shoulder was bandaged and a spot of blood peeked through the covering. The memories came flooding back and she whined again.

“Oh good, she’s awake!” She knew that voice. Nadine? 

Her head felt fuzzy and her vision slightly blurry from sleep, but she was able to make out the six bodies crowded around her. Faces came into view and she suddenly felt nauseous again. She had a lot of things on her mind, but instead, what she said was, “Michelle, you’re walking?”

Michelle quirked an eyebrow, grabbing Kani’s left arm and gently pulling her into a sitting position. 

“I had a skin wound, skin wounds heal in a week.” She replied, moving to support Kani’s back. Kani felt soft hands touch her arm and shoulder and she hissed a little at the contact. Adriana smiled a quick apology as she glanced under the bandage.

“You’ve been out for a day, we did the best we could but I really think you need to go to the hospital. You could have hit an artery.” Adriana advised. Kani shook her head, grimacing at the memory.

“No. They didn’t hit anything major, they made a point not to.” She babbled. Michelle fixed her with a look.  _ What are you doing?  _ It said.

“Who’s they?” Sonia was the one to ask. Kani sighed. 

“All the money we stole, the information I have on the men were going after, it all leads back to somewhere. It’s a secret society of sorts, not really like a cult or anything, they’re like professional vigilantes. I work for them. But I ventured off track and I guess they didn’t like that.”

“What do you mean?” Nadine chimed in.

“Boss is strict. It started out great but they became just like the men they’re after. They killed anyone who disagreed with their values or whatever. They said it was a warning. I’ve been technically rogue for a little time now. Guess it caught up with me.” Kani laughed, bitterly. 

“How did they find you if you’ve been rogue?” Elan was asking questions now too.

“Someone tipped them off.” Kani shrugged as best she could with one arm.

“But who—“

“Alex.” Whispered Luca. She looked angry, fuming in her spot. 

“What reason would he have for betraying Kani?” Adriana prompted, she was rubbing circles on Kani’s back. Kani came up blank.

“I don’t have a clue.” She leaned into Adriana’s side. 

“Tell us what happened, all of it.” Michelle commanded. Kani obliged.

“After the building blew up, I drove us back here. I dropped Adriana off and planned to sneak back to the crime scene, see what I could gain from eavesdropping. I thought walking made it easier to blend in so I started going that way. Next thing I know, a black van pulls up beside me and some old co-workers of mine step out. They pinned me down the sidewalk and they said “Last warning, Wyatt” and then they shot me in the shoulder and left.” 

“How do you know they didn’t hit anything vital then?” Michelle countered. Kani rolled her eyes.

“Leaving you to die from bleeding out or hitting an organ isn’t their style. They like to remove them.” The visual they all got was graphically disgusting.

“Do you think they’re the ones who blew up Harring’s building?” 

“Could be. Sounds like them.” 

A collective groan rippled through the group. Great, now thy had competition.

“One thing is for sure though, we cannot let them get to the others first.”

>>><<<

Gunshots. Feet pounding on concrete. Tires screeching in the distance. Pain spread across her shoulder blades.

Kani wakes up in a fret, shooting upward in her bed. This is a scene she’s gotten used to every night. Sheets damp with sweat, hands gripping the sides of the bed, images flashing through her mind in a haze. The nightmares had been consistent for 7 years.

“Hey,” a soft voice came from beside her, “What’s wrong?” 

Kani turned and met eyes with a sleepy Adriana. The latter sat up and rested her chin on Kani’s good shoulder. It brought a smile to her face.

“Nightmares. Stupid fucking nightmares.” Kani groaned and fell back down, turning on her left shoulder and facing Adriana. Nothing had been established, nothing talked about but they both were aware of what they wanted and they were taking it slow. 

“Does it happen often?” The older whispered, reaching over to run her fingers through Kani’s hair. Kani sighed.

“Yeah. Happens a lot, actually.” 

Adriana hummed, moving closer to her. “You wanna talk about them?”

Kani smiled and bit her lip, shaking her head no.

“Okay. You worried me, you know.” 

Kani nodded, leaning into the feeling of Adriana’s hands through her hair. 

“I know.” She sighed.

“I’m glad you’re okay. I spent so much time thinking about what happened to you after the incident. Nearly drove myself crazy.” Adriana confessed. Kani grinned.

“I tried to visit you a few times but they said it was family-only. I came every month for 2 years and had to leave empty-handed every time.” Kani told her, and Adriana’s face softened a lot more than it already had.

“You tried to see me?” She whispered.

“Of course I did.” 

Adriana leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to her lips. It was innocent and slow. When they pulled away, Adriana looked...upset? No, that wasn’t the word. 

“I know that nothing really keeps you here in Winston. I know that one day I might wake up and have lost you. But you’re crazy if you think I wouldn’t stay here forever for you.” She breathed and closed her eyes.

“You won’t lose me.” That was a promise. Kani would never leave her behind. Not after everything.

There was a sound at the window and Kani looked back to see Michelle straddling the window sill. She had her hood up and her hands stuffed in the pockets. 

“Come on,” She motioned to Kani, “I have to show you something.” 

Kani glanced at Adriana, who had already fallen into a deep sleep. She carefully lifted herself off the bed and followed Michelle down the fire escape. They didn’t speak, and Kani was too tired to ask Michelle where they were going. She realized it when Michelle ducked into an archway, shimmying through the gap and pulling Kani inside as well.

The old courtyard. 

“Do you remember when we first met?” Michelle started, “I was friends with Elan and you were friends with Luca. We hated each other at first.” 

Kani laughed, the feeling is nostalgia overwhelming being back in a place like this.

“Yeah, we did. You called me a street rat and I called you a stuck-up bitch. You told me to focus on my studies and I yelled at you to take control of your own life for once. We were so annoying.” 

Michelle chuckled too. The moon hung high in the night sky and reminded Kani of her teenage years. 

“We had our ups and downs.” Michelle agreed while gazing at the sky as well. 

“Still do.” Kani giggled.

“You didn’t tell them everything but you started somewhere. You kept your word. I...I’m really grateful that you did.” Michelle almost never complimented her. Kani’s head fell forward.

“I’m afraid I don’t have as much time as I thought.” Kani murmured, kicking her feet and sending rocks flying. Michelle smiled at the action.

“Have you really gone rogue?” 

Kani nodded.

“I want to tell you what happened. That night a few days after the robbery.” Michelle said, taking a seat up against the fence.

“I was so angry. Everything was pissing me off and I felt powerless. That night when Elan’s father came around, I was honestly already mad from my parents being on my case to be their perfect little Vietnamese daughter. And then he hit me and it just, set me off. I stayed with Sonia and Nadine that night, they calmed me down but only to a certain degree. I told them I wanted to kill him, I wanted him to suffer for the pain he caused everyone. They gave me some painkillers and told me to go to bed.”

“I didn’t sleep. After everything that happened, I was just so over it. I went to the chemistry lab at that old science office that closed a few years ago, and stole some chemicals. I planned to poison him at first but that wouldn’t be enough. He was hurting her, I was afraid he was going to kill her. So, I took him out first.”

“I found him leaving his office that night. In his fucking suit and tie and smug expression and something just snapped. I put on gloves and tied my hair back and then I made up my mind. I blocked him on the interstate ramp, hit him with a shovel when he got out of the car to confront me. I called Nadine and Sonia and told them what I had done. They came and found me and we agreed never to tell anyone. Nadine drove his car into the lake and busted up his cellphone. Sonia helped me take the body to the woods and we buried it, poured from the lab on the grave so it would decompose faster. We never spoke of it again.”

Michelle wiped at her eyes, small whimpers leaving her mouth. Kani didn’t know what to do. Tears welled up in her eyes as well, she wasn’t sure why. The night Sonia had left her, she had helped bury someone. Michelle sobbed into her hands. 

“I killed him,” She wailed, “I killed Elan’s father.”

+++

_ The Horizon _

A few days passed after Michelle’s confession. Kani has returned home, bringing Michelle with her and the older of the two slept on her couch that night. She was too unstable to be left alone. Adriana had noticed when they came through the window, but she didn’t press the matter.

Michelle had killed Elan’s father, and Sonia and Nadine had helped. Kani tried to forget it, tried to ignore the creeping feeling in her stomach. She couldn’t judge her, she had no right after what she’d done. 

She did a pretty job of pretending, faking her ignorance. They were hitting Mark Nickels next, who owned a massive parts dealership for cars. The plan was overall simple; manipulate the cars on the lot at his dealership, and then the innocent customers could sue him into bankruptcy.

It didn’t take long for Luca to disable the cameras, or for Sonia and Michelle to sneak onto the lot. Elan took out the security guards, using the malee skills Kani had taught her. Luca stayed in their ears the entire time, telling them what to tamper with and what not to touch.

“ _ Yeah, the black one. Pull it out.” _

Sonia ripped out the black wire. 

“What now?”

_ “Where’s Michelle?” _

Sonia lifted herself out from under the car, glancing around for her friend. She spotted her inside the dealership, a bag of sugar in her hand.

“She’s pouring sugar in the gas tanks.”

_ “Jesus fucking christ.” _

“Yeah, I know.”

“ _ Damn, do I love having her back on the job.”  _ Kani laughed into her earpiece.

“ _ I think we all love having her back on the job.”  _ Elan whispered, and the group broke into laughter.

>>><<<

Mark Nickels was suffering greatly. Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of products were damaged and it would take a lot to replace it all. The girls had gotten off this one without any injuries and they were celebrating in Kani’s office at 1 in the morning. 

“I feel like I’m gonna fucking die.” Michelle groaned, letting her empty wine glass hit the table. Luca laughed, leaning into Elan’s shoulder. 

“I can’t believe we’ve taken out three of the biggest names in the business. Dude, we’re fucking badass!” Sonia yelled, raising a glass of champagne and the girls all followed. 

“I don’t think we’ve gotten the opportunity to just sit and hang out, no bullshit.” Nadine commented, swirling her glass of bourbon.

“No, we haven’t. What have we all been doing this whole time?” Elan threw her hands up. She was maybe a little tipsy.

“I’ve been in federal prison.” Adriana piped up and the group fell silent before softly laughing at her playful expression.

“I own a construction company. Haven’t been down there in a little while but I manage the whole team and shit. Real pain in the ass, if I’m honest.” Michelle leaned back into the couch.

“I work for Alex. I street-race and work as a mechanic during the day. Dangerous but pays well.” Luca rested her chin on Elan’s shoulder as they talked. Sonia went next.

“I’m a criminal bounty hunter. Not the most glamorous life but it paid me enough to keep Baba’s grocery store open. My mom and I don’t speak much anymore.” 

“I was in a mental hospital for almost a decade. Too scared to leave, too scared not to.” Elan downed the rest of her champagne.

“I own this dojo. I teach kids usually during the day. I actually really like it, keeps me grounded.” Kani chimed in, following suit and downing her glass. Nadine downed hers before she even started.

“I’m homeless. I leech off the locals who are kind enough to give me things out of pity. With the money I’ve made from working with you guys though, I almost have enough to get my own place.” 

A collective gasp went through the group.

“Why didn’t you tell us? We would’ve let you stay with one of us.” Luca sat up from the couch. Nadine just smiled.

“Actually, I’ve been staying with Sonia lately.” 

The aforementioned girl froze, staring at her empty glass. 

“Excuse me for a moment.” She said, sitting her glass on the table and rushing out. Nadine got up quickly and followed her, letting the office door close behind them. Elan whistled.

“That’s not good.” The others shook their heads.

>>><<<

Sonia ended up at the same place the rest of them had. The courtyard was untouched by man but horribly conditioned to weather. Yet, it still remained the same as it always had. She could hear footsteps behind her as she laid on the concrete, closing her eyes and began mumbling the lyrics to a song she’d heard earlier.

“Just don’t say love, say love, say love, say love, no. I’ve heard that word misused a thousand times before.”

She carried on, singing softly to herself and repeating the chorus multiple times. The footsteps got closer and then they stopped.

“So what do you say?” A voice asked when she’d finished. 

“If you can’t say love, what do you say?” 

Sonia didn’t open her eyes.

“Say nothing. If it’s the right person, you don’t have to say anything.”

Nadine came and sat beside her, taking a good look at her face before laying down. Sonia opened her eyes, glancing at Nadine from the corner and grabbed the others hand. They watched the stars there in that spot for who knows how long. No words were exchanged. Nothing.

They didn’t say anything. 

+++

_ Melting Silver _

It took about an hour for Sonia and Nadine to return, neither saying a word about what had happened. Nobody pushed it, they were just glad whatever was between them had been worked out. The celebration was set to resume, but they were cut off but a familiar whirring.

Luca and Nadine locked eyes and both followed the noise to the backroom. Kani touched the scar on her cheek and watched Michelle breathe deeply. They all broke into a sprint, running towards the backroom and throwing the door open. The table was flung against the wall and shattered into pieces. 

They each filed in, one after the other until they saw it. The machine was not connected to anything but it was running. Wires were flying all around the room and Adriana gripped Kani’s healed shoulder. 

“What do we do?!” Luca screamed and backed up as one of the wires came too close. Nadine stared, a lump in her forming out of fear. Before anyone could reply, there was a glitch in the machine and then the voice came through, much clearer than last time.

“Seven sinners,” It said, “how adorable.”

Wait a second.

Kani knew that voice. 

“You don’t all know of each other’s sins, do you? You don’t all know that three of you are murderers, that one of you is selling the rest of you out for their own benefit.”

Kani stepped forward, pushing Nadine out of the way.

“You’re sick, this is what they’re doing to you, Josephine! You’re not a machine, you’re a person!” Kani shouted, desperation dripping from her words. The voice laughed.

“Elan, sweetie, do you know what happened to your father?”

“Don’t listen to her!” Michelle screamed.

Elan didn’t hear her.

“What happened?” She asked the voice.

Fear and panic arose in the faces of the guilty. Sonia had a death grip on Nadine’s hand. 

“Why don’t I show you.” The voice drawled, and the screen on the machine suddenly glitched, a video of Michelle popped up, and replayed the entire event to the room. Adriana gasped, her hand flying to her mouth as it played.

“You—You murdered my father?” Elan shouted at Michelle. Luca had a secure hold on her arms, but everyone could see the force Elan could exhibit. Tears streamed down Michelle’s face. 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” She cried. 

“Oh but that’s not the end, dear ones. You see, this entire life you have all lived weren’t actually your lives at all. Someone has been selling you out, someone has been lying to you.”

“Don’t fucking do this!” Kani yelped as a wire struck her in the side. 

“You see, Kani here has a reputation. She’s a betrayer. She’s the reason you’re all here, the reason you’re all suffering.” 

“It’s a lie!” Michelle was frantically wiping at her eyes.

“Kani? What is she talking about?” Adriana called. Kani picked herself up, her side hurting badly.

“I’m sorry.” She whimpered. 

“Careful who you trust, there’s always a betrayer in the mix, even in yourself.”

Another glitch and the machine powered down, whirring and the wind stopped. Kani was slumped on the floor, sobbing and all the others could do was watch.

+++

_ The Truth Unsaid _

“What was she talking about?” Sonia sounded angry. Kani couldn’t do anything, couldn’t pry herself off the floor or speak or any of it. Michelle went to grab her, wrapping her arms around her torso and pulling her up. She was the only one to help her. 

They all followed Michelle up to Kani’s apartment, where Kani sat on the couch and buried her face in her hands. Several minutes passed. The crying had minimized a good bit. And then, she spoke. 

“I tried to fix it. I tried to, but I couldn’t. They were always one step ahead.” Her voice broke and she couldn’t even be bothered to wipe the tears from her face.

“This place, this world. None of it is real. This is a game to them, just another fucking trial except one of us is supposed to live and the others just get fucked.”

There was silence around the room. Nobody knew what to say or do. “They let me keep my memories from the second trial but took yours and I tried so hard not to let them take us.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Sonia demanded, folding her arms over her chest. Kani didn’t meet her eye. 

“What language am I speaking right now, Sonia?”

“What?” 

“What language do you hear?”

Sonia hesitated before saying, “Hindi. You all speak Hindi.”

Confusion engulfed the rest of them in waves.

“I hear Spanish.” Adriana said, her eyes flickering between Sonia and Kani.

“Vietnamese.” Michelle confirmed.

They all glanced at each other, each following each other’s eyes back to Kani, who met no ones.

“It’s part of the game. We’re from different regions, don’t speak the same languages. The smartest people in the world didn’t come from one place.”

There was a stutter among the group. 

Nadine gripped her hair. “What the fuck is going on?”

Before Kani could explain, the front door was busted down and all hell broke loose.

+++

_ Kani _

Armed guards rushed in the door plowing through the seven of them and grabbing Kani by the arm. She yelped in pain but still fought. She was able to get one of the guards down and out, but just as she raised her head, she suffered a heel to the nose. 

From the corner of her eye, she spotted Nadine and Michelle fighting with the guards as well, the other four backed into the wall. One of the guards seized Michelle’s arms, allowing the other to slam the back of his gun into her forehead. She fell to her knees.

Nadine was losing badly, two guards had her cornered and she did her best to defend herself, but they won over and just a few seconds later, Nadine Williams was unconscious. 

“Nadine!” Sonia screamed. 

Kani still struggled at the front, putting in all her years of training into warding them off. One soldier sent a right hook her way and she dodged it without thought. The second one went for an uppercut, which she blocked and returned. She was holding her own pretty well until one of the guards behind her yelled.

“Hey!” He shouted and Kani turned. Michelle was on her knees, eye bruised and forehead bleeding. Glass and pieces of tables and chairs were broken off and surrounded the apartment. Worst of all, the guard holding one of Michelle’s arms had the barrel of his gun against her forehead. 

“I’m sorry.” Michelle whispered, tears still collecting in her eyes. The two guards behind Kani grabbed her pulling her towards the door. 

Elan and Luca were missing from the scene, but Adriana and Sonia remained. 

“GO!” Kani yelled at them, seeing the guards move for them as well. They took off down the hall, Adriana grabbing Sonia’s hand and pulling her towards the fire escape. Ringing. That’s all she heard as they both climbed out, jumping the rest of the way down. Sonia made a break for the alleyway nearby, hoping to hide out until she felt safe.

Her legs and feet were on fire but she didn’t stop running until she reached the corner and she ducked into the alley. Her back hit the wall instantly and she panted, out of breath and crying.

Adriana ran for as long as she could in the opposite direction, weaving in and out of the bustling city crowd in a desperate attempt to get away. The police station came into view and without a second thought, she ran.

+++

_ The End of The Beginning _

Luca and Elan had ran as fast as they could. Luca wasn’t sure why she was bringing Elan to this place, but she could not think of another place to go. The neighborhood wasn’t familiar at all and she almost found herself lost, but the green door she’d seen in pictures came into view and she knew this was the right place.

She slammed the door with all her might, and it flew open almost immediately.

“Come in, quickly.” Alex said as he ushered them inside.

“We don’t have much time, your friend’s in trouble and I know how to save her.”

>>><<<

The police arrived within minutes, their entire team had their weapons pulled as they followed each other up the stairs. Adriana hid her face in her hands. 

An officer came down moments later, empty handed.

“There was nobody up there, the place was completely clean.” The officer said, eyeing Adriana. No. No there’s no way that was possible.

“Ma’am, are you intoxicated or—“

“That’s not possible.” Adriana whispered, “It’s not possible!” 

She took off running, to where she wasn’t sure. Her head pounded and her heart was racing. The familiar alleyway came into view and she squeezed in without a second thought, only stopping right at the end when her eyes found an easily recognizable golden envelope taped to the side of the building, the red wax seal and everything.

The envelope was unmarked, but she tore it open anyways, finding a single white slip of paper with calligraphic writing.

_ Do you trust me?  _

_ 25.0000° N, 71.0000° W _

  
  
  
  



End file.
